BATON ROUGE, La. -- Tyrell Ward capped a 17-point performance with a short floater as time expired, and LSU pulled out a second straight comeback victory over a ranked team with a 75-74 decision over No. 17 Kentucky on Wednesday night.
The Wildcats nearly sealed the dramatic win after Kentucky's Adou Thiero blocked Jordan Wright's driving shot in the final seconds and Wright was able to push the ball back up toward Ward, who leaped to grab the ball and quickly release his decisive shot before he came down.
The basket sent jubilant fans pouring onto the floor as security officers scrambled to rope off an area around both benches to keep the crowd from mingling with players and coaches.
Wright and Jalen Reed each scored 13 points for LSU (14-12, 6-7 Southeastern Conference), which erased a 15-point second-half deficit. Wednesday's victory came one game after the Tigers overcame a 16-point second-half deficit in a 64-63 victory at then-No. 11 South Carolina on Saturday.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, LSU is the first team in SEC history to win consecutive games, both exactly by a point and both against AP-ranked teams.
Antonio Reeves scored 25 points for Kentucky (18-8, 8-5), which has now stumbled to five losses in its past nine games. Rob Dillingham scored 22 of his 24 points in the second half. His driving scoop as he was fouled with 53 seconds left, followed by his pullup jumper on the baseline with 13 seconds left, briefly gave the Wildcats a 74-73 lead.
Ward had 10 first-half points, and his jumper gave LSU a 26-24 lead late in the first half.
But Kentucky closed the half on a 12-1 run during which Reeves hit a 3 and fast-break layup. Justin Edwards' 3 gave the Wildcats a 36-27 lead at the break.
Kentucky opened the second half with consecutive 3s by Edwards and Reeves to make it 42-27, but Derek Fountain's layup shortly after ignited a 21-4 LSU run that included consecutive 3s by Wright and ended with back-to-back layups by Reed and Hunter Dean to put the Tigers up 48-46.
Reed Sheppard interrupted the spurt with a layup while being fouled and completed the 3-point play.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.