Indiana defeats Kentucky

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana was in a foul mood and made Kentucky pay for it.\nCourtney Lee scored 20 points, Mr. Basketball A.J. Ratliff added 17, and Indiana set an All-Star record by hitting 44-of-59 foul shots Saturday night for a 93-90 victory and a split of this year's two-game series.\n"In practice, we shoot at least 50 free throws a day. We know that down the stretch it may come to free throws," Ratliff said. "Once we were in the bonus, we wanted to drive, make them foul us and get to the line."\nRatliff, an IU recruit from Indianapolis North Central, hit 11 free throws without a miss and led both teams with five assists.\n"It definitely got me going," he said of Indiana's advantage from the foul line. "Once I hit the first five, I knew they were going in."\nA.J. Graves added 12 points and Wesley Clemmons had 11 for Indiana. Lee, Ratliff, Graves and Clemmons combined for 30 free throws without a miss, and the 44 total free throws broke the former All-Star record of 37 set by Kentucky in 1996.\n"Indiana did a good job of attacking the basket," Kentucky coach Kelly Wells said. "Almost half of their points came from the free-throw line, and they definitely used that area of the game to their advantage."\nKentucky was led by Ty Rogers with 19 points and Boris Siakam with 14 but played most of the game without Mr. Basketball Chris Lofton, who sprained his ankle late in the first half and finished with just 13 points. Lofton had 41 in an 89-81 victory a week earlier in Owensboro.\n"We didn't even talk about it, other than we thought we might be able to play a little bit more zone ... and if they didn't get hot that we might be able to get this game under control without Lofton being out there," Indiana coach Cliff Hawkins said.\nKentucky, trying for its first series sweep since 1986, led 55-54 early in the second half before two free throws by Clemmons started the parade from the foul line. Indiana scored 10 free throws in the next six minutes and got its last 13 points on foul shots after Kentucky took an 84-81 lead with under three minutes to go.\n"I really thought we were ready to put them away at 76-69, and then they got back to taking it inside on us a little bit, and we had some problems," Hawkins said.\nTwo more free throws by Clemmons pulled Indiana within one, and Kentucky managed one more three-point lead before Indiana got four free throws apiece by Ratliff and Graves and two by Lee.\nHarrison Morton and Demetrius Guions finished with 12 points apiece for Kentucky.\n"They really played good defense," Guions said. "They forced a lot of turnovers, got a lot of steals and turned all of that into some easy baskets."\nLofton, who had six 3-pointers in his 41-point burst a week earlier, hurt his left ankle as he fell to the floor on his third 3-pointer Saturday night. He had six of his 13 points in an 8-1 run that gave Kentucky a 31-29 lead. With Lofton out of the game, Indiana went back in front 33-31 before a 3-pointer by Rogers started a 12-2 run in less than two minutes.\nKentucky took a 43-35 lead and was still in front by seven with under a minute to go, but Joe Reitz scored a basket and free throw, Lee added a fast-break basket after a Kentucky turnover, and Lee then stole the ball and scored on a fast-break dunk with one second remaining for a 50-50 tie at the break.\n"They played a gutty, gutty performance without Chris. They responded with great character, great pride," Wells said. "We had our chances to win the game down the stretch but just came up a little short.\n"Chris had a great offensive game in the first game but we have 13 capable players besides him. ... We're definitely not going to use that as an excuse"