Georgia manages to pull off a daily double

ATLANTA -- Few thought Georgia could win two Southeastern Conference tournament games in one day.

Sundiata Gaines scored 20 points and Georgia, a last-place team in the regular season, upset Mississippi State, 64-60, in front of an estimated 1,000 at Georgia Tech’s Alexander Memorial Coliseum to move to within one win of its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2002.

Georgia, which beat Kentucky earlier Saturday, will play Arkansas in today’s championship game.

“To win two games in one day at the SEC tournament is not easy,” said Gaines, who held an ice bag on his sore right hip but insisted, “I’m not tired.”

Georgia (16-16) won only four conference games all season but has won three in three days in the tournament. Two of them came Saturday, improbably leading the Bulldogs into the championship game.

Georgia, down to eight scholarship players, was not supposed to have enough depth or enough rest to pull out two wins in one day.

The Bulldogs upset Kentucky, 60-56, earlier Saturday in a quarterfinal game pushed back a day because of the tornado that damaged the Georgia Dome the previous night.