STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Patrick Sparks tied a season-high with 25 points and Kentucky made a season-best 13 3-pointers in an 81-66 victory over Mississippi State on Wednesday night.
The Wildcats (15-6, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) shot a season-high 52 percent from 3-point range and never trailed in extending their winning streak to a season-long five games after a 10-6 start to the season.
Joe Crawford added 14 points for Kentucky, which surpassed its previous season best of 12 3s – set in November against West Virginia and tied last month against South Carolina. The Wildcats’ previous best 3-point shooting percentage of 50 percent (12-for-24) also came against the Gamecocks.
Sparks finished three points shy of his career high of 28 set two years ago against New Mexico. Still, he was 5-of-10 from 3-point range and consistently deflated Mississippi State’s comeback attempts with 3s.
Perhaps Sparks’ most important 3-pointer came early in the second half.
Kentucky led by 13 on a Joe Crawford layup in the opening moments of the half before the Bulldogs scored nine straight points, closing to 42-39 on Charles Rhodes’ dunk with 16:39 to play.
That’s when Sparks got open in the left corner, took a pass from Rajon Rondo and swished a 3-pointer to extend the lead to six. Joe Crawford hit a 3 from the same spot on Kentucky’s next trip downcourt, making it 48-39 with 15 1/2 minutes remaining.
Mississippi State (11-10, 1-7) didn’t get closer than five the rest of the way in losing its seventh straight for the first time since the Richard Williams-led Bulldogs lost nine straight in the 1986-87 season.
Rhodes led the Bulldogs with 21 points. Jamall Edmondson and Jamont Gordon had 15 apiece for Mississippi State, with 12 of Gordon’s points coming in the first half.
Kentucky scored the first eight points of the game, and led by as many as nine in the first half. The Wildcats protected their lead with a tough defense which allowed State few open looks, overcame a 7-minute stretch in which it made one basket – a Sparks 3 – and led 38-29 at halftime.
The Bulldogs made just three baskets in the final 11 minutes of the half.
