LEXINGTON, Kent. — Far from home, facing the undefeated and No. 3 ranked Wildcats and jet-lagged from a red-eye flight following an OT loss, the Beach could have been blown out Wednesday afternoon. They needed no excuses for their play after the game. Kentucky opened it up at the end, finishing their 13th off by an 86-73 margin, but for thirty minutes the ‘Niners gave them all they could handle.

T.J. “In-n-Out” Robinson scored 13 points and grabbed 15 big rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. he has six double-doubles in the last seven games and is averaging 19.3 points and 13 rebounds over that stretch.

Larry Anderson and Stephan Gilling added 15 apiece. Gilling drained five more 3-pointers to give him 44 already on the season.

Eugene Phelps chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds while Casper Ware dished out eight assists and scored seven. Ware had the unenviable job of guarding and being guarded by Kentucky’s star freshman point guard John Wall but held his own.

Wall, widely-regarded as the first-pick-to-be in next Spring’s NBA draft did have a game-high 19 points. He also had five assists, four rebounds and four steals. His backcourt mate Eric Bledsoe notched 11 points and matched his assist and rebound totals.

But where the Wildcats really took over late was inside. Exploiting their size 6-foot, 9-inch Patrick Patterson poured in 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while 6-foot, 11-inch man-child DeMarcus Cousins shook off early foul trouble and had 15 and 10.

Kentucky’s speed and size led to lots of Long Beach fouls in the second half and the game was really won at the free throw line where Kentucky shot 83 percent (15-of-18) after the intermission compared to just 50 percent (3-of-6) for LBSU. 

The game was the third of four top-10 opponents The Beach plays before starting Big West play in 2010. They travel to No. 7 Duke after Christmas for their last big showdown.

But if Wednesday afternoon, where the only thing Long Beach-esque was the sea of blue that looked like the outside of the Pyramid, was any indication this team has come a long way since being blown out by West Virginia in Anaheim and Texas in Austin. 

The LBC’s T-L-C freshman 2008-2009 trio is paying huge dividends and Eugene Phelps continues to improve as the four sophomores look to carry the Beach to bigger things.

But Kentucky’s current frosh trio of Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins and the junior Patterson? They could all be lottery picks.

So the smaller and less talented ‘Niners certainly aren’t hanging their heads as they head home for Christmas and begin to prepare for their last major test before they start Big West play hungry for a conference title.