Julius Randle – photo by Walter Cornett
Julius Randle had 12 points and 11 rebounds and No. 25 Kentucky rallied past Alabama 55-48 on Tuesday night to end a two-game losing streak.
Needing a bounce after Saturday’s loss at South Carolina with a huge hurdle looming this weekend at No. 1 Florida, the Wildcats (22-8, 12-5 Southeastern Conference) used a 15-2 second-half run to build a 43-34 lead. They added several smaller runs to hold off the stubborn Crimson Tide (12-18, 6-11) in their regular season home finale.
Kentucky avoided its first three-game losing streak under coach John Calipari and clinched second place in the conference.
It wasn’t easy or pretty for the Wildcats, whose 33 percent shooting reflected their generally tentative play. But a couple of timely dunks by Dakari Johnson and 3-pointers by Aaron and Andrew Harrison keyed the run that helped put away Alabama.
Trevor Releford had 13 points for Alabama.
Johnson and James Young had nine points for Kentucky.
