KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2010 / SPORTS / 5B
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Kentucky guard John Wall (11) drives past Mississippi State guard Phil Turner (25) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Starkville, Miss., Tuesday. The Wildcats defeated the Bulldogs 81-75 in overtime.
Wall leads Wildcats in OT victory against Bulldogs
ASSOCIATED PRESS
STARKVILLE, Miss. — John Wall scored 18 points, including five in overtime, and came within two assists of a triple-double to lead No. 2 Kentucky to an 81-75 victory over Mississippi State on Tuesday night.
Wall's three-point play opened the scoring in overtime, then he added two free throws and blocked Dee Bost's layup attempt with 36 seconds left to push the Wildcats (25-1, 10-1 Southeastern Conference) to their sixth straight win and snap a three-game losing streak to the Bulldogs (18-8, 6-5).
DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick
Patterson both scored 19 points.
Wall had 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Cousins had 14 rebounds.
Cousins had 14 rebounds. Kentucky trailed 67-60 with
three minutes left, but scored the final seven points of regulation, the last two on Patterson's 15-foot jumper that tied it at 72.
Bost scored 22 points for Mississippi State, which was without suspended leading scorer Ravern Johnson.
The final minute of the game was marred when fans in the student section of a record crowd of 10,788 threw bottles onto the court, almost hitting official Mike Kitts and coming close to Wall as he stood near the Kentucky bench.
"We made plays. We made shots. We made blocks. We did enough to win the game and now we're going to get out of here," Kentucky coach John Callipari said.
Mississippi State used a 13-2 run to take its biggest lead, 67-60, with three minutes left.
Jarvis Varnado, one of the nation's leading shot blockers, fouled out midway through the run at 5:08, but that didn't seem to slow down the Bulldogs.
They outscored the Wildcats 6-2 over the next 2 minutes before Kentucky clamped down.
Eric Bledsoe hit a 3-pointer, then converted Cousins' block of Romero Osby into a layup in transition before Patterson tied it at 72.
Mississippi State's Barry Stewart missed the rim on a three-point attempt as the shot clock expired with 6.2 seconds left and DeAndre Liggins' jump shot from the baseline as time expired bounced off the rim.
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Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki of Germany, shoots as Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jeff Green, right, defends, in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game in Oklahoma City. Tuesday. The Thunder defeated the Mavericks 99-86.
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OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant had 25 points and 14 rebounds, rookie reserve James Harden added 17 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the new-look Dallas Mavericks 99-86 Tuesday night to stretch their winning streak to seven games.
Caron Butler scored 13 points and helped Dallas build an early 12-point lead after coming over in a weekend trade from Washington, but he finished 4 for 16 from the field and Oklahoma City charged ahead in the second half.
Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points, Jason Terry had 14 points and Jason Kidd finished with 12 for the Mavericks.
Starting center Erick Dampier had 13 rebounds but headed to the locker room with 2:54 remaining with an open dislocation of right middle finger.
He was expected to remain in Oklahoma City and have it surgically repaired before rejoining the Mavericks.
The team gave no immediate timetable for his return.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Durant helps the Thunder continue seven-game streak
Durant extended his streak of games with at least 25 points to 26, but he needed a driving layup with 26.6 seconds left to get there — after coach Scott Brooks had taken three of Oklahoma City's five starters out of the game.
NBA
After a sizzling second quarter, neither team could find the mark early in the second half.
The teams combined for only 10 points over the first $6\frac{1}{2}$ minutes of the third quarter, with Russell Westbrook's jumper from the left wing giving Oklahoma City a 61-59 lead with 7.34 left.
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Dallas didn't score again until J.J. Barea's meaningless layup with 16.3 seconds left.
The Thunder eventually got going, reeling off 14 straight points as the Mavericks went
Harden hit four straight free throws to make it 73-59 with 1:41 remaining.
Oklahoma City outscored Dallas 22-11 in the third quarter, the lowest scoring period of the season for the Mavs.
Jeff Green and Westbrook also scored 17 points for Oklahoma City, which held Dallas to 32 percent shooting and committed only nine turnovers.
Terry started a string of three straight baskets for Dallas, and he added a three-pointer before Kidd's tree throw cut it to 92-84 with 3.37 remaining.
Serge Ibaka's layup pushed the Thunder lead to 17 in the first 2 minutes of the fourth before the Mavericks finally mounted a comeback.
more than 6 minutes without scoring.
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