SEC Roundup: No. 17 Aggies trounce LSU 71-38

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tonny Trocha-Morales scored 13 points as No. 17 Texas A&M trounced LSU and freshman star Ben Simmons 71-38 on Saturday to reach the Aggies’ first conference tournament championship game since 1994.

The Aggies (26-7) will play No. 16 Kentucky for the Southeastern Conference Tournament title on Sunday.

Texas A&M hadn’t reached a conference tourney championship since losing to Texas 22 years ago in the Southwest Conference. Now, after its eighth straight victory, it is one win away from adding its first tournament title since 1987.

The Aggies also announced a new five-year deal with coach Billy Kennedy before tipoff, and then they proved he deserved it by routing the last team to beat them back on Feb. 13.

Simmons finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Tigers (19-14).

No. 16 Kentucky 93, Georgia 80: Jamal Murray scored 26 points, Tyler Ulis added 25 and both keyed a late 11-3 run that helped the Wildcats (25-8) put away the Bulldogs (19-13) in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinal.

Isaiah Briscoe’s putback with 8:16 left put Kentucky up 68-67 and Murray followed with two free throws. After Houston Kessler’s jumper got Georgia within one, Ulis scored five points while Murray made a layup during a run that pushed second-seeded Kentucky ahead to stay and into Sunday’s championship against top-seeded Texas A&M.

Briscoe (12 points) was also important down the stretch with a jumper and feed to Marcus Lee for a dunk as Kentucky had to work hard to make its third straight SEC final.

Yante Maten had 20 points, J.J. Frazier 19 and Kenny Gaines 16 for sixth-seeded Georgia, which led most of the game before faltering down the stretch.