Wednesday, January 23, 2002
Kentucky 69, Auburn 62
Estill picks up Prince's slack
The Associated Press
AUBURN, Ala. — Marquis Estill plays an integral, unsung role as a reserve for No. 8 Kentucky. Estill scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting Tuesday night, lifting the Wildcats to a 69-62 victory over Auburn. His performance allowed Kentucky to overcome a quiet night for some of the Wildcats' stars.
“Estill showed his presence on this Kentucky basketball team is extremely strong,” said Auburn coach Cliff Ellis, who has lost 10 of 11 against Kentucky.
Estill has been a consistent presence for the Wildcats (13-4, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) despite the unexpected death of his father Jan. 5. In the past eight games, he has made 31 of 42 shots, and he played 30 minutes against the Tigers.
Auburn (9-8, 1-5) has lost three straight league games.
Kentucky has won four straight, but struggled to put Auburn away until the final minutes, mostly because of 8-of-20 free-throw shooting in the final 5:12.
“Neither team really got in the groove,” Wildcats coach Tubby Smith said. “We would get one thing fixed and then something else would go wrong for us.
“We faced the No. 1 defense in the league. They get in your face and stay in your face.”
Estill and Cliff Hawkins (2-of-3) were the only Kentucky players to hit at least half their shots.
Keith Bogans had 13 points and Gerald Fitch added 11 for the Wildcats. Leading scorer Tayshaun Prince was just 2-of-8 for nine points, eight below his average.
“I didn't play my best game of the year, but I really didn't have to because Marquis played very well,” Prince said.
Marquis Daniels led Auburn with 16 points, but scored only one in the second half. He also had 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals. Marco Killingsworth added 13 points for the Tigers, who have lost 16 of the last 17 meetings with the Wildcats.
An already thin Auburn team had five players finish with four fouls.
“I am not disappointed with our team at all,” Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. “We just had a few flurries there where we couldn't hit any shots, but this team is growing and those same shots will be falling soon.”
The Tigers, the SEC's lowest-scoring team, were just 5-of-23 from 3-point range as they lost their third straight conference game, but Kentucky missed 17 of 33 free throws to keep Auburn in it.
Auburn started the second half shooting 2-of-15 with seven turnovers, but it still took Kentucky nine minutes to increase its seven-point halftime lead. Estill capped an 11-0 spurt with six straight points, including four free throws, to make it 50-36 with 10:24 left.
Auburn closed to 54-50 on Adam Harrington's 3-pointer nearly four minutes later. But Prince started an 8-0 run with a 3, and Auburn missed seven straight shots — six from behind the arc.
“I felt that it was up to me to make something happen, and that was the turning point,” said Prince, held to single digits for the third time in four games.
Hawkins' free throw made it 62-50 with 3:04 remaining.
Lincoln Glass hit a 3-pointer, his third of the half, with 8.8 seconds left to cut it to single digits.
The Wildcats led 37-30 at halftime, and only Daniels kept it from being worse. Coming off a five-point effort against LSU, he scored 11 straight points and 15 of the Tigers' final 17.
“They fought and clawed and didn't give up,” Smith said of the Tigers. “We were tough on them defensively and forced a lot of tough shots.”
KENTUCKY (69)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Prince 37 2-8 3-8 1-7 1 2 9
Camara 8 0-2 0-0 0-1 0 3 0
Hawkins 17 2-3 4-10 1-1 3 3 8
Fitch 34 3-8 3-7 1-6 2 2 11
Bogans 33 5-11 1-2 0-3 4 3 13
R Carruth 12 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 2
Daniels 18 2-5 0-0 5-8 3 2 4
Heissenbuttel 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Hayes 10 0-1 1-2 1-3 2 2 1
Estill 30 8-12 4-4 1-5 0 1 21
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 23-53 16-33 10-34 16 20 69
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.434, FT-.485. 3-Point Goals:
7-17, .412 (Prince 2-4, Hawkins 0-1, Fitch 2-4,
Bogans 2-5, R Carruth 0-2, Estill 1-1). Team
rebounds: 4. Blocked shots: 4 (Prince 2, Estill
2). Turnovers: 14 (Prince 3, Bogans 2, Fitch 2,
Hawkins 2, Camara, Daniels, Estill, Hayes, R
Carruth). Steals: 9 (Camara 2, Estill 2, Fitch 2,
Hawkins 2, Prince).
AUBURN (62)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Robinson 23 2-9 0-0 2-4 1 4 4
Davis 15 2-5 3-4 3-5 0 4 7
Daniels 34 6-15 3-5 4-11 6 2 16
Bird 21 1-6 2-3 3-4 2 4 4
Harrington 27 3-8 0-0 2-7 1 4 7
Diame 14 1-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 2
Killingsworth 24 6-11 1-4 1-6 1 4 13
Monroe 10 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Mitchell 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Mcgadney 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Glass 28 3-10 0-0 0-1 2 2 9
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 24-67 9-17 15-38 14 26 62
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.358, FT-.529. 3-Point Goals:
5-23, .217 (Robinson 0-4, Daniels 1-3, Bird 0-3,
Harrington 1-6, Glass 3-7). Team rebounds: 7.
Blocked shots: 5 (Davis 3, Robinson, Diame).
Turnovers: 18 (Daniels 6, Killingsworth 4, Glass
2, Harrington 2, Bird, Diame, Mitchell,
Robinson). Steals: 7 (Daniels 4, Bird, Diame,
Killingsworth).
__________________________________
Kentucky 37 32 - 69
Auburn 30 32 - 62
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 10,500. Officials: Ed
Corbett, David Day, Bruce Benedict.
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Kentucky 69, Auburn 62 
