By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Kentucky’s basketball team hit the century mark and remained undefeated in the GLOBL JAM on Saturday with a 104-92 victory over Team Africa at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto.
The Wildcats, undefeated in pool play at 3-0, will face Canada in the gold medal game at 8 p.m. on Sunday that will be televised live on CBS Sports Network. Canada surprised German, 84-81, to reach the final. Kentucky defeated Team Canada 93-69 three days ago.
On Saturday afternoon, Antonio Reeves continued his impressive showing in the event and led Kentucky with 27 points. Reeves knocked down eight 3-pointers on 11 attempts. Overall, the Wildcats connected on 14 shots from long range, including eight in the first two quarters.
Freshmen DJ Wagner and Reed Sheppard followed Reeves with 18 points each, followed by Justin Edwards with 15 and Tre Mitchell with 12.
Sparked by Sheppard and Reeves, the Wildcats scored 57 points off the bench. Sheppard scored five points down the stretch in the third quarter to keep the lead in double digits at 78-65. Team Africa pulled within 87-81 with five minutes remaining and missed two opportunities to cut the deficit to four points. Kentucky used a 9-0 run to pull away for the win.
Sheppard made six of 10 shots from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers and dished out a team-high eight assists. Kentucky finished with 26 assists on 39 made field goals and had just 13 turnovers.
Edwards set the tone for the Wildcats, scoring nine of the team’s first 13 points. He sank a pair of 3-pointers during the sequence.