No. 8 Kentucky tops 100 again with win over Georgia State

Jaxson Robinson scored a team-high 19 points to help the No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats to a 105-76 victory over the visiting Georgia State Panthers on Friday in Lexington, Kentucky.

Lamont Butler had 17 points and six assists for Kentucky (7-0), surpassing the 100-point mark for the fourth time this year. Amari Williams had 14 points, Otega Oweh added 12, while Andrew Carr and Koby Brea each scored 10 for the Wildcats, who made 40 of 67 (59.7 percent) shots from the field.

Cesare Edwards led Georgia State (4-4) with 21 points, followed by Zarique Nutter with 19. Malachi Brown added 11 points and five assists for the Panthers, who have lost two of three.

Early in the first half, Nutter’s mid-range jumper cut Kentucky’s lead to 11-10 before Robinson’s layup sparked a 9-0 Wildcat scoring run.

Five straight points cut Georgia State’s deficit to two points with 5:06 left in the first half. The Panthers then went scoreless for three minutes as Kentucky extended its lead with a 13-0 run, capped by Kerr Kriisa’s 3-pointer, giving the Wildcats a 44-29 lead.

Robinson’s dunk extended Kentucky’s lead to 18 before Nick McMullen cut the Panthers’ halftime deficit to 48-33. Butler led Kentucky with 13 first-half points while the Wildcats shot 19-for-28 (67.9 percent) from the field in the first half. Nutter led Georgia State with 12 first-half points.

The Panthers opened the second half with a 20-11 winning run, with Nutter and McMullen hitting back-to-back shots to force a Kentucky timeout with 13:34 left.

With Kentucky leading 61-53, Georgia State’s Clash Peters was called for a flagrant foul for pushing Williams in the back. In the ensuing melee, Oweh and Brea were whistled for technical fouls, while Nutter also picked up one for Georgia State.

From there, Kentucky used a 10-3 run to take a 71-56 lead on Oweh’s dunk with 11:23 left. Toneari Lane’s 3-pointer brought Georgia State within 12 points, but Kentucky pulled away for good with a 20-6 run, highlighted by back-to-back threes from Brea and Robinson.

–Field level media