Prince Leads the Way as Kentucky Wins for the 12th Time in 14 Games

Tayshaun Prince scored 18 points and Jason Parker and Gerald Fitch added 12 each as Kentucky defeated Mississippi State, 76-57, Saturday at Lexington, Ky.

The victory was the fifth in a row and 12th in 14 games for the Wildcats (15-7, 8-2 in the Southeastern Conference), who retained their two-game lead in the league’s Eastern Division.

Mario Austin had 14 points and Derrick Zimmerman added 10 to lead Mississippi State (12-9, 3-7), which has lost seven of 10 games.

Kentucky shot 52% to Mississippi State’s 27% in a physical game that included 43 fouls and 50 free throws. The Bulldogs missed all 19 of their three-pointers.

Mississippi State, the SEC’s top rebounding team, outrebounded Kentucky, 52-41, and had 21 second-chance points to the Wildcats’ six.

Mississippi State missed six of its first seven shots as Kentucky took a 19-10 lead midway through the first half.

The Bulldogs trailed by 14 at halftime and never got any closer in the second half. They trailed by as many as 26 at 71-45 on Fitch’s three-point basket with 3:24 remaining.

Prince, a junior from Dominguez High, continued his recent scoring binge, making eight of 10 shots and grabbing five rebounds. Prince has averaged 22.2 points and made 37 of 60 shots (62%) in his past four games.

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Steve Logan scored 19 points and Kenny Satterfield had 16 to lead Cincinnati (16-7, 6-4 in Conference USA) to a 64-52 victory over Southern Mississippi (16-7, 6-5) at Hattiesburg, Miss. . . . Sam Sanders blocked LeAndrew Bass’ last-second shot, preserving South Florida’s 61-60 victory against Alabama Birmingham (12-10, 5-5 in Conference USA) at Tampa, Fla. The Bulls are 15-8 and 7-3. . . . Gary Buchanan scored 21 points and extended his Division I free-throw streak to a record 73 in a row as Villanova (14-8, 5-5 in the Big East) defeated Connecticut, 74-60, at Philadelphia. Johnnie Selvie had 15 points for the Huskies (15-8, 4-6). . . . Jamahl Mosley’s 15 points helped Colorado (15-9, 5-6 in the Big 12 Conference) to a 70-63 victory over Kansas State (8-13, 2-8) at Manhattan, Kan. . . . DeMarcus Minor scored 17 points as Baylor (15-6, 4-6 in the Big 12) scored a 69-58 victory over Nebraska (11-12, 4-6) at Waco, Texas. . . . Kevin Johnson scored 18 points as Tulsa (16-8, 7-4 in the Western Athletic Conference) defeated Texas El Paso, 87-72, at Tulsa, Okla. The Miners fell to 17-6 and 6-5. . . . Mike Wilks scored 23 points to lead Rice (12-10, 4-6 in the WAC) to a 76-72 victory over Texas Christian (16-8, 5-4) at Houston. . . . Marcus Bailey, the leading scorer in the Mountain West Conference, scored 20 points to lead Wyoming (16-5, 7-2) to a 72-70 victory over Colorado State (13-8, 4-4) before a record crowd of 15,456 at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, Wyo. . . . Kevin Bradley’s 18 points helped Utah (14-9, 6-3 in the MWC) to a 76-63 victory over San Diego State (11-10, 1-7) at San Diego. . . . Trevor Diggs scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half as Nevada Las Vegas (14-9, 5-3 in the MWC) rallied to defeat Brigham Young, 68-56, at Las Vegas. Mekeli Wesley led BYU (16-7, 5-3) with 17 points. . . . Matt Renn had 20 points and eight rebounds in Indiana State’s 74-68 victory over Missouri Valley Conference rival Illinois State (16-5, 8-4) at Terre Haute, Ind. The Sycamores (17-8, 9-4) have won five in a row against the Redbirds. . . . Murray State (13-10, 8-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference) shot 56% from the field in a 92-77 victory over Eastern Illinois (15-8, 8-4) at Murray, Ky. . . . Butler (16-7, 7-3 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference) ended Cleveland State’s (17-10, 8-3) seven-game winning streak with a 59-56 victory at Cleveland. . . . Chad Pleiness and Tim Kisner scored 16 points apiece as Central Michigan (17-4, 11-1 in the Mid-American) defeated Western Michigan, 78-62, at Mount Pleasant, Mich. Western Michigan fell to 4-17 and 4-8. . . . Jody Lumpkin scored 16 points and blocked four shots as the College of Charleston (20-4, 10-2 in the Southern Conference) defeated Furman (9-12, 4-8), 61-37, at Charleston, S.C. . . . St. Joseph’s (19-4, 9-1 in the Atlantic 10) won for the 13th time in 14 games, defeating St. Bonaventure (14-8, 5-5), 78-76, at Olean, N.Y.