Men's Basketball

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Randolph Morris matched a career high with 25 points and Ramel Bradley had 20 as Kentucky pushed its winning streak to six with a 78-65 victory over Eastern Kentucky Saturday afternoon.

Morris, who was 9 for 12 from the field, added 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. He didn’t pick up his first and only foul until late in the game when the Wildcats led by 13.

As it turned out, the Wildcats needed their junior center to produce inside because of the career day Eastern Kentucky’s freshman guard Adam Leonard turned in from outside. Leonard had a career-high 20 points – all but two of them from beyond the arc.

Last season was the first since 1989-90 that Kentucky didn’t manage at least one streak of six or more wins. They moved to 10-0 all-time against the Colonels, who they met most recently in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Every time Kentucky tried to pull away early, the Colonels seemed to nail a 3-pointer to stay close. Leonard made his first seven shots – six of them from 3-point range – including one that cut the Wildcats’ lead to 40-39 early in the second half.

But Bradley followed with Kentucky’s first 3-pointer in 10 tries, then made a diving steal and fed Morris for a layup that extended Kentucky’s lead to 45-39. Bradley caught fire in the second half and ended up 4-for-7 from 3-point range.

The Colonels never led after a Leonard 3 gave them an 18-17 lead less than seven minutes into the game, but they did manage to tie up the Wildcats twice after that.

Kentucky made only four of its first 16 shots and had no assists in the first 10 minutes, but quickly corrected course. The Wildcats made 52 percent of their shots and dominated the boards 38-26.

The loudest cheers at Rupp Arena came during halftime when the video board showed clips of Kentucky’s football team, which upset Clemson in the Music City Bowl Friday in Nashville.

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