LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kelenna Azubuike had career-highs of 30 points and 11 rebounds as No. 5 Kentucky held off an upset bid by Auburn for an 81-73 victory on Wednesday night.
Kentucky (21-3, 12-1 Southeastern Conference) didn’t pull away until the final minutes against Auburn (12-14, 3-10), the last-place team in the SEC West.
Still, Kentucky clinched at least a share of the SEC East. The divisional title is the sixth straight for the Wildcats, who have finished no worse than second in the division since the league expanded in 1992.
Kentucky moved two games ahead of No. 16 Alabama in the overall SEC race with three games remaining. Kentucky will visit the Crimson Tide on Saturday.
Kentucky has won 22 straight games over SEC West teams, but against Auburn, as they have several times this season, the Wildcats allowed a lesser opponent to stay in the game. Auburn, a team with little depth and without a player taller than 6-foot-6, tied the game at 51 with 11:02 left on two free throws by Quinnel Brown.
Freshman guard Ramel Bradley started a 9-0 run with a 3-pointer, and ended it with an assist to seldom-used 7-foot center Lukasz Obrzut, who scored to give Kentucky a 60-51 lead with 7:38 left.
Auburn, which ranks second in the SEC in 3-pointers attempted and made, stayed close thanks to a 12-of-28 effort from behind the arc and a 40-35 rebounding advantage. The Tigers were as close as 72-66 with 1:40 left, but Kentucky then went 9-of-10 from the free throw line.
Azubuike, a 6-5 junior swingman, hit five of those free throws, finishing 9-of-11 from the line and 9-of-17 from the field. His point total was the highest this season by a Kentucky player.
Freshman guard Toney Douglas led Auburn with 21 points, all in the second half, and went 5-of-9 from 3-point range. Nathan Watson added 15 points for Auburn, while Brown had 11 points and nine rebounds.
With its size advantage, Kentucky wasted little time pounding the ball inside, a strategy that led to two dunks by Randolph Morris in the first 4 minutes. When the Tigers collapsed inside, the ball went back outside to Azubuike, who had two 3-pointers in the first 3 minutes.
Still, despite Azubuike’s 16 first-half points, Auburn managed to take the lead twice, briefly, late in the half before the Wildcats finished the half up 36-32.
Douglas, who entered the game averaging 16.9 points, scored 13 in a 5-minute span of the second half as the Tigers erased an eight-point deficit and pulled even at 51-51.
