Cats get important win at Vanderbilt 58-56

John Wall showed once again why he is Kentucky's go to guy, when  he sank a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left and had a big blocked shot to give No. 2 Kentucky a 58-56 win over No. 17 Vanderbilt on Saturday night.

"Somebody steps up," DeMarcus Cousins said of his teammate Wall, who had 13 points. "Maybe he doesn't score 20-plus points, he still is going to make key plays down the stretch, which helps the team."

Kentucky (26-1, 11-1 SEC), which beat Vanderbilt 85-72 on Jan. 30, grabbed a two-game lead over the Commodores in the SEC East and dealt them their first home loss this season. It was the first time the Wildcats swept the regular season series since 2005.

Wall's free throws gave the Wildcats a 57-53 lead, but John Jenkins answered with a 3-pointer to pull Vanderbilt (20-6, 9-3) within a point.

Kentucky's Eric Bledsoe missed a pair of free throws, but Wall responded by blocking a 3-pointer by Jenkins on the other end and grabbing the ball.

"He just fought his way," Kentucky coach John Calipari said of Wall. "That will to win, refuse to lose."

He made one of two free throws for a two-point lead with 2.5 seconds to play, and the Commodores had one more chance.

A.J. Ogilvy caught a long in-bounds pass by Darshawn McClellan, but his runner in the lane bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

"It was set up for A.J. to take the ball and for me to sprint to the basket, so I could lay it in," Vanderbilt's Jeffery Taylor said. "It just didn't work out."

Cousins led Kentucky with 19 points and Patrick Patterson chipped in 13.