Arlington, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Kenny Chery dropped 18 points as No. 20 Baylor took down third-ranked Kentucky, 67-62, to cap a historic doubleheader from AT&T Stadium, home of the 2014 Final Four.
Isaiah Austin and Cory Jefferson posted 13 points apiece in the triumph, as Baylor (8-1) topped Kentucky (7-2) for the second time in as many seasons.
The Bears helped the Big 12 take a commanding 6-1 lead in the inaugural Big 12-SEC Challenge with the win. Kansas will meet Florida in Gainesville on Tuesday in the final game of the showcase.
"We're a great program just like they were a great program," Jefferson said. "So it wasn't mismatches as anybody may think. We just came out two great teams playing hard."
Julius Randle paced the Wildcats with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Aaron Harrison and James Young netted 15 and 14 points, respectively.
"They outhustled us. They outworked us. They deserved to win," Kentucky coach John Calipari said.
Earlier in the evening, a top-10 clash between the two schools women's programs delayed the start of the men's game by more than an hour following a four-overtime thriller. Kentucky outlasted the Lady Bears, 133-130, in the highest scoring Division 1 women's game ever.
Baylor opened up 7-of-8 from the floor and carried a 16-7 lead into the first media timeout. Randle injected some life into Kentucky with an emphatic jam at 14:01 and Aaron Harrison followed with a triple to pull the Wildcats back in the game.
The Bears stayed in front until a Young trey at 6:57 knotted the score at 27-27.
Late in the period, Jefferson dunked twice around an Andrew Harrison layup to make it 35-35 in the final minute. Andrew Harrison's 3 from the top of the key bounced high off the rim and fell through in the closing seconds to give Kentucky a three-point edge at the break.
The Wildcats came out of the locker rooms with a lot of energy, and a pair of Randle free throws four minutes into the second half gave Kentucky its largest lead at 46-37. Randle's dunk minutes later kept the lead at nine points before Chery's jumper sparked an 8-0 Baylor charge.
The Bears gained their first lead of the second half on two Chery free throws at 6:01. Austin's dunk just before the final media timeout made it 61-57.
Baylor led by two with under a minute left when Chery canned the biggest shot of the game, a mid-range jumper from the right elbow, with 40.9 seconds showing.
Aaron Harrison missed a runner on the other end to seal Kentucky's fate.
Game Notes
Kentucky fell to 1-2 at neutral sites this year ... Willie Cauley-Stein blocked three shots for the Wildcats, giving him 19 blocks over his last three tilts ... The Wildcats came in scoring 30 percent of their points from the foul line, but shot just 12-of-23 from the line in this one and didn't make a foul shot until late in the first half.
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