The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. - Gerald Fitch is real comfortable taking long-range jumpers.

Kentucky's Kelenna Azubuike reacts after a dunk against Louisiana State during the first half Sunday. (AP photo)

Fitch, a 42 percent 3-point shooter in Southeastern Conference games, made five of eight from beyond the arc and scored 23 points to lead No. 9 Kentucky over LSU 70-64 Sunday.

"That's just me being me and doing what I do," Fitch said of his first 20-point game since Jan. 13.

The victory clinched the SEC Eastern Division title for Kentucky (21-4, 11-3).

"Right now, every game is a big game," Kentucky forward Erik Daniels said. "We're trying to get a No. 1 seed in the East in the SEC Tournament and a good seed in the NCAA Tournament."

It was the fourth straight loss for LSU (17-8, 7-7) and dropped the Tigers into a tie for No. 2 in the SEC West with Alabama, although the Tigers hold the tiebreaker by virtue of their two wins during the season.

Kentucky, which beat Tennessee by 32 points Wednesday, had a tougher time against the persistent Tigers.

LSU shot 43.5 percent to Kentucky's 47.1 percent, but made one more 3-pointer (7-23) and went 17-of-17 from the free throw line.

Daniels scored 14 points for Kentucky and Cliff Hawkins had 13.

LSU played without its leading scorer and rebounder, Jaime Lloreda. Lloreda, who injured his left heel earlier this month, was limping after practice Friday and pulled himself out of practice Saturday. With Lloreda out, LSU was left most of the time with four freshmen on the court, frequently against four Kentucky seniors.

"I knew it would be a real battle, even without Jaime," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. "I was real impressed, losing their best player and being able to play like that tells you a little about the character and toughness of their team."

Darrel Mitchell led LSU with 15 points, including 4-of-8 for 3-pointers, freshman Brandon Bass had 13 and Antonio Hudson added 10.

"You expect a team of seniors to handle adversity and bounce back," LSU coach John Brady said. "You had four and five freshmen playing the majority of the minutes and a lot of the time it was four freshmen and one sophomore, Darrel Mitchell."

LSU struggled to get inside against the bigger Kentucky lineup. The Tigers came within three, 59-56, with 3:16 left. LSU's 15-6 run was fueled by nine free throws.

Kentucky appeared to put away the game on Fitch's fifth 3-pointer that gave the Wildcats a 62-56 lead with 2:57 remaining. But the Tigers rallied. Mitchell was fouled as he sank a 3-pointer, and helped the Tigers close to within 64-62 with 37 seconds left.

Whipple's jumper with 20 seconds made it 66-64, but the Wildcats made all four free throws down the stretch.

Kentucky opened the game with a 6-0 run and led by six two other times in the first half. The Wildcats couldn't shake the Tigers, though. LSU took a 19-18 lead with 9:37 left, then went up 29-28 on a 3-pointer by Mitchell with 3:16 remaining.

Ross Neltner, the 2003 Kentucky Mr. Basketball and Highlands product, had five points and three rebounds for LSU.

Kentucky	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Daniels	33	7	11	0	0	5	1	3	1	14
Hayes	36	3	9	1	3	8	5	2	2	7
Hawkins	35	3	7	6	7	3	3	3	2	13
Azubuike	33	2	7	3	3	1	1	3	1	7
Barbour	20	1	3	0	0	2	1	1	2	2
Fitch	29	6	10	6	8	2	1	1	1	23
Obrzut	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Perry	6	0	1	0	0	2	0	1	0	0
Thomas	6	2	3	0	0	4	0	3	1	4
Totals	200	24	51	16	21	27	12	18	10	70

Team rebounds - 3.

LSU	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Bass	37	4	5	5	5	6	1	4	3	13
Lazare	21	1	3	0	0	2	1	1	1	2
Mitchell	36	4	11	3	3	2	3	4	4	15
Whipple	25	3	7	2	2	4	5	2	2	9
Hudson	31	4	9	0	0	2	2	4	1	10
Minor	16	1	5	4	4	4	1	1	1	6
Koundjia	12	1	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	4
Neltner	22	2	4	1	1	3	2	2	0	5
Totals	200	20	46	17	17	25	15	18	13	64

Team rebounds - 2.

Kentucky	33	37	-70
LSU	29	35	-64

3-pointers - UK 6-16 (Hayes 0-1, Hawkins 1-1, Azubuike 0-4, Barbour 0-2, Fitch 5-8), LSU 7-23 (Mitchell 4-8, Whipple 1-4, Hudson 2-6, Minor 0-4, Koundjia 0-1). Technicals - . Officials - N/A. Attendance - 12,791.