PJ Washington scored 18 points to help send Kentucky to the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament with a 62-49 victory over Georgia on Friday.

The fourth-seeded Wildcats (22-10), who have won the last three tournament championships and 30 titles overall, advanced to face Alabama on Saturday.

The 6-foot-7 Washington scored 11 of his points in the second half and finished 8 of 12 from the field.

Tyree Crump led the No. 12 seed Bulldogs (18-15) with 17 points, while Associated Press SEC player of the year Yante Maten was held to nine points on 2 of 10 shooting.

Despite playing their third game in as many days, compared with Kentucky, making its first outing of the tournament, the Bulldogs took a 23-22 lead late in the first half after a pair of free throws by Maten. The edge was short-lived, however, when the Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run to take a 30-23 halftime lead and surged ahead by as many as 17 points in the second half.

Keep Reading

Georgia State fell to 1-9 on the season and remained winless in Sun Belt play after a 30-18 home loss to Marshall on Saturday. (Stan Awtrey/AJC)

Credit: AJC

Featured

Rose Scott signals as Closer Look goes on air in the WABE studio. An Atlanta resident left WABE a $3 million donation, a boost after WABE lost $1.9 million in annual funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. (Ben Gray / AJC file)

Credit: Ben Gray