— The Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — J.P. Prince and his Tennessee teammates watched No. 2 Kentucky erase a 19-point lead and knew they might also be watching a shot at a second major upset slip away.

But Prince, the Vols’ senior leader, wouldn’t let that happen. With 90 seconds left, he scored on a broken play and added four free throws down the stretch to lift No. 19 Tennessee past the surging Wildcats 74-65 on Saturday.

”That was a mature win,” Prince said. ”We had a big lead, let them come back, but didn’t panic.”

No, in fact the Vols (21-7, 9-5 Southeastern Conference) seem to be growing accustomed to knocking off the giants of college basketball this year. Last month, they also handed top-ranked Kansas its only loss.

The Wildcats (27-2, 12-2), who had won eight in a row since their only other loss last month to South Carolina, trailed by 19 early in the second half but tied the game at 65 with just over 2 minutes left.

”When they tied it up, I’m saying to myself, ‘We worked too hard,”’ said Tennessee guard Bobby Maze. ”We believed in ourselves.”

That’s when Prince went to work, scoring six of his 20 points in the final 90 seconds. Add in a 3-pointer by Scotty Hopson — his only one in six attempts — and the Vols finished with nine straight points to ice it. Hopson scored 15.

Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl said Kentucky provided plenty of help in the upset. The Wildcats couldn’t have been much colder from long range, connecting on just two of 22 attempts, contributing to season-worst 35 percent field goal shooting.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari said, considering that, he was surprised the game was as close as it was.

”You shoot 2 for 22 and it’s 65-65? Wow,” he said.

John Wall had 19 points and DeMarcus Cousins added 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Wildcats. Six of Cousins’ points came on successive trips down the court: two free throws followed by two fast-break dunks, both off passes from Wall. That tied the game at 65 before the Vols pulled away at the end.

(8) WEST VIRGINIA 74, CINCINNATI 68: Kevin Jones scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half and West Virginia (22-6, 11-5 Big East) came from 13 points down to beat Cincinnati (16-12, 7-9) at Morgantown, W.Va.

(9) OHIO STATE 66, MICHIGAN 55: William Buford scored 24 points and Evan Turner added 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead Ohio State (23-7, 13-4 Big Ten) past Michigan (13-15, 6-10) at Columbus, Ohio.

NOTRE DAME 78, (11) GEORGETOWN 64: Ben Hansbrough scored 21 points, Tim Abromaitis had 19 and Notre Dame (19-10, 8-8 Big East) knocked off Georgetown (19-8, 9-7) at Washington.

(12) PITTSBURGH 71, ST. JOHN’S 64: Nasir Robinson scored 13 points, including Pittsburgh’s first nine of the second half, and the Panthers (22-7, 11-5 Big East) beat St. John’s (15-13, 5-11) at New York for their fifth win in six games.

(16) VANDERBILT 89, ARKANSAS 72: Jeffery Taylor scored 18 points and A.J. Ogilvy added 14 to lead Vanderbilt (22-6, 11-3 SEC) to a win over Arkansas (14-15, 7-7) at Fayetteville, Ark.

(22) TEXAS A&M 74, (21) TEXAS 58: Donald Sloan scored 19 points to lead Texas A&M (20-8, 9-5 Big 12) to a victory over Texas (22-7, 8-6) at College Station, Texas.

(24) BAYLOR 70, OKLAHOMA 63: Ekpe Udoh had 20 points and seven blocks, leading Baylor (22-6, 9-5 Big 12) past Oklahoma (13-15, 4-10) at Norman, Okla.

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