AUBURN, Ala. _ Kentucky had not won a road game against a ranked Southeastern Conference opponent since March 1, 2006 (an 80-78 victory at No. 11 Tennessee).
It took a team effort to make a bit of history Saturday as No. 12 Kentucky outlasted No. 14 Auburn, 82-80.
If Kentucky needed to search for a go-to guy, several candidates emerged.
PJ Washington joined roommates Keldon Johnson and Tyler Herro in giving Kentucky production on both ends of the floor.
Auburn had its own stars in a game bursting with heroes and fans. Bryce Brown's big second half helped the Tigers rise from the seemingly down and out.
Kentucky, which led by 17 points early in the second half, found itself behind 80-79 with 31 seconds left. Auburn point guard Jared Harper put UK behind for the first time since the 4:10 mark of the first half.
Herro, who leads the SEC in free-throw accuracy, made two foul shots with 24.1 seconds left to put Kentucky back ahead 81-80.
Then Harper came oh-so-close to giving Auburn the lead. But his floater from about 10 feet rattled out.
Auburn had to foul. Immanuel Quickley made one of two free throws with 3.3 seconds left to set the final score.
Auburn's last-second heave from near mid-court bounced off the backboard.
Kentucky improved to 14-3 overall and 4-1 in the SEC. Johnson and Herro led Kentucky with 20 points each. Reid Travis' 17 points helped UK enjoy a 38-24 advantage in points from the paint. Washington added 13.
Auburn, which lost at home for the first time in 10 games, fell to 13-4 overall and 2-2 in the SEC. Brown led Auburn with 28 points, 25 coming in the second half.
Kentucky scored the last nine points of the first half to take a 35-27 halftime lead. That was the largest lead either team had in the opening 20 minutes.
Johnson and Herro figured large in the mini breakout. Johnson tipped in Herro's missed layup to start the run.
After Auburn turned it over on a penetration-and-pitch attempt, Herro drove into traffic and whipped a pass to Johnson in the right corner. Johnson's 3-pointer gave UK a 32-27 lead.
Then another penetration-and-pitch attempt resulted in another Auburn turnover. This time, Herro made a 3-pointer with 21 seconds left to set the halftime score.
Kentucky, which led for 12:35 of the first half, got off to a relatively fast start. Four turnovers inside the first three minutes did not prevent UK from 8-4 at the first television timeout.
Auburn made only one of its first nine 3-point attempts. That kept Kentucky ahead. That Auburn made only 5 of 16 3-point shots in the half helped UK leave the floor ahead.
Harper and Brown combined for only 12 points in the first half. Harper made only 3 of 9 shots. More surprisingly, he missed 2 of 4 free throws. This from a player who came into the game having shot free throws with 83.9 percent accuracy.
Brown, the SEC's leading scorer in league play (20.0 points per game), got off only two shots of the first half (one in the final 13:48). His only basket was a 3-pointer that bounced high off the front of the rim before gravity took it through the net.
Auburn opened the second half in a zone. Kentucky made its first four shots, capped by a Herro 3-pointer from the left corner that expanded the lead to 45-29. The margin reached its zenith at 48-31 on a three-point play by Washington.
Auburn called time with 17:29 left.
The Tigers went to Brown, and he delivered. After hitting a pull-up jumper over Herro, he made two 3-pointers inside the next two minutes. The second reduced UK's lead to 50-42 and caused the crowd to erupt.
But Johnson hit a 3-pointer to quell the storm of noise, but Auburn closed the gap from there.
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