Brandon Knight led the way with 24 points and seven assists as No. 22 Kentucky held off Mississippi State, 85-79, in Lexington, Kentucky, on Tuesday.

Doron Lamb added 20 points and Terrence Jones collected 17 and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats (18-7, 6-5 SEC), who had dropped three of four coming into the game. Kentucky remains in fourth place in the SEC East but will get a chance to move up with home games against Florida and Vanderbilt over the final three weeks.

A turning point came at the end of the first half when Knight drew a foul near halfcourt with 1.1 seconds left. The referees determined that he was in the act of shooting and granted him three free throws while Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury was assessed a technical foul for protesting the call.

Knight hit four of the five free throws, pulling the Wildcats within a point at 40-39.

The Bulldogs (13-12, 5-6) held Kentucky off for the first few minutes of the second half until a 15-2 run put the Wildcats up, 58-50, with 13:41 left. Mississippi State never regained the lead.