Jan 22, 2002
By JOHN ZENOR
AP Sports Writer
AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn’s in-your-face defense was no match for Marquis Estill.
Estill shot 8-of-12 from the field to tie his season high with 21 points as No. 8 Kentucky overcame an uneven effort to beat the Tigers 69-62 on Wednesday night for its fourth straight win.
“Neither team really got in the groove tonight,” Wildcats coach Tubby Smith said. “We would get one thing fixed and then something else would go wrong for us.
“We faced the No. 1 defense in the league. They get in your face and stay in your face.”
It seemed to hinder everyone on the Kentucky team except Estill, who has made 31 of his last 42 shots over the last eight games. He and Cliff Hawkins (2-of-3) were the only players to hit at least half their shots.
Keith Bogans had 13 points and Gerald Fitch added 11 for the Wildcats (13-4, 3-2 Southeastern Conference), who shot just 8-of-20 from the foul line during the final 5:12. Leading scorer Tayshaun Prince was held to nine points, eight below his average.
Marquis Daniels led Auburn (9-8, 1-5) with 16 points, but scored only one in the second half. He also had 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals. Marco Killingsworth added 13 points for the Tigers, who have lost 16 of the last 17 meetings with the Wildcats.
An already thin Auburn team had five players finish with four fouls.
“I am not disappointed with our team at all,” Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. “We just had a few flurries there where we couldn’t hit any shots, but this team is growing and those same shots will be falling soon.”
The Tigers, the SEC’s lowest-scoring team, were just 5-of-23 from 3-point range as they lost their third straight conference game, but Kentucky missed 17 of 33 free throws to keep Auburn in it.
Auburn started the second half shooting 2-of-15 with seven turnovers, but it still took Kentucky nine minutes to increase its seven-point halftime lead. Estill capped an 11-0 spurt with six straight points, including four free throws, to make it 50-36 with 10:24 left.
“Estill showed his presence on this Kentucky basketball team is extremely strong,” Ellis said. “I honestly think he was the main difference in the game.”
Auburn cut it to 54-50 on Adam Harrington’s long 3-pointer nearly four minutes later. But Prince started an 8-0 run with a 3 and Auburn missed seven straight shots – six from behind the arc.
“I felt that it was up to me to make something happen, and that was the turning point,” said Prince, held to single digits for the third time in four games.
Hawkins’ free throw made it 62-50 with 3:04 remaining.
Lincoln Glass hit a 3-pointer, his third of the half, with 8.8 seconds left to cut it to single digits.
The Wildcats led 37-30 at halftime, and only Daniels kept it from being worse. Coming off a five-point effort against LSU, he scored 11 straight points and 15 of the Tigers’ final 17. He gave Auburn its first lead, 24-23, on two free throws with 7:32 left.
The Tigers made it 26-24 on Killingsworth’s hook shot, then missed seven straight shots.
Prince was just 1-of-5 and didn’t take a shot for the first 11 minutes. He wasn’t too worried about the lack of a starring role after the game.
“I didn’t play my best game of the year, but I really didn’t have to because Marquis played very well,” Prince said.
