National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Kentucky 91, Auburn 67
When: 1:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 14, 2015
Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Officials: # Mike Nance, # Doug Shows, # Olandis Poole
Attendance: 19232

No. 1 Kentucky 91, Auburn 67: Willie Cauley-Stein had 18 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots as the Wildcats dominated an SEC tournament semifinal against the short-handed Tigers in Nashville, Tenn.

Andrew Harrison added 15 points and four assists for Kentucky (33-0), which will face No. 20 Arkansas on Sunday in the program’s 39th SEC championship game. The Wildcats shot 56.3 percent from the field, hit a season-high 30 free throws in 35 attempts and enjoyed a 39-25 rebounding advantage to easily overcome 26 fouls.

Antoine Mason scored 23 points to lead 13th-seeded Auburn (15-20), which had posted three upset wins to reach the semifinals but had to play Saturday without suspended starters Cinmeon Bowers and Jordon Granger. Bowers, the Tigers’ leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, was suspended due to a potential rules violation Friday while Granger, the team’s second-leading rebounder, was forced to sit out after receiving a Flagrant 2 fighting foul in Friday’s quarterfinal victory over LSU.

Trey Lyles, Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker all added 12 points to round out the double-digit scorers for Kentucky, which hit 7-of-14 3-pointers and had its third-highest scoring game of the season. Malcolm Canada had 16 points, KT Harrell added 13 and Devin Waddell had a team-high five rebounds for Auburn, which shot 33.3 percent from the floor but finished 25-of-34 at the free-throw stripe.

Auburn’s only lead came at 2-0 as Kentucky quickly followed with a 15-2 run to go up by double digits. The Wildcats shot 57.7 percent from the field and hit 13-of-15 free throws in the first half to take a 47-29 lead into intermission, and led by as many as 28 points over the final 20 minutes while the Tigers never got closer than 13.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Kentucky improved to 39-2 all-time in SEC tournament semifinal games. … Auburn, which was making its first SEC semifinal appearance since 2009, fell to 3-9 all-time in the round. … The Wildcats’ 33-game win streak became the longest in program history, eclipsing the 32-game run from 1953-55.

Top Game Performances
 
Auburn   Kentucky
Antoine Mason 23 Scoring Willie Cauley-Stein 18
KT Harrell 1 Assists Tyler Ulis 6
Devin Waddell 5 Rebounds Willie Cauley-Stein 7
KT Harrell 11 Free Throws Made Karl-Anthony Towns 8
Malcolm Canada 1 Steals Tyler Ulis 2
N/A Blocks Willie Cauley-Stein 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Auburn 67 33.3 6-20 25-34 5 21 0 2 7
Kentucky 91 56.2 7-14 30-35 17 36 7 4 10