INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Coach Travis Ford's Eastern Kentucky University Colonels took the No. 7 ranked University of Kentucky Wildcats to the wire before losing 72-64 in the opening round of the Austin (TX) Regional in a game played in the RCA Dome.

Eastern, now 22-9, trailed by as many as 16 points (52-36) before staging a furious comeback that saw the Colonels twice cut the UK margin to five points within the last four minutes of play. However, UK's inside players, senior forward Chuck Hayes and freshman Randolph Morris, took over on both ends of the floor to lead Kentucky to its 26th win in 31 games this year.

"I'm really proud of our players," said Ford. "I thought we played extremely, extremely hard. There were several points in the game where guys could have held their heads, and got concerned, but we stuck with our game plan. They continued to execute. We made some big shots to bring us back after their big run in the second half, so I'm very, very proud of the effort that these players showed tonight.

"But you've got to give Kentucky credit. They're a great basketball team."

In the first half, after junior forward Jason McLeish tied the game 13-13 with two free throws with 13:28 to go, Kentucky went on a nine-point run to lead 22-13 with 9:59 before the break. UK upped that to as much as 14 at 40-26 before the Colonels scored the final six points of the half to cut it to 40-32 at halftime.

Kentucky quickly lengthened the margin to 16 in the opening minutes of play in the second half before three-point shots by junior guard Matt Witt and senior guard Ben Rushing helped to trim the lead to five at 64-59 with 3:59 left.

In a key possession at this point of the game, EKU worked the ball inside to junior center Alonzo Hird who tried a five-footer. However, Morris rejected the shot, dashing Colonel hopes of trimming the margin to a single possession.

"Obviously, it was a very emotional locker room," said Ford. "We told our guys to keep their head up. We know our guys wanted to win the game, and we went into the game thinking we could. We thought we could do some things that could make us a better team and maybe catch Kentucky on a bad night. That didn't happen. Kentucky is a great basketball team. We stuck to our game plan and gof very close to executing. We can be proud of that."

Witt led all scorers in the game with 21. Senior forward Michael Haney had 12 points and eight rebounds, while Hird had his fifth double-double of the season as he scored 11 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. Rushing had nine points, including 3-3 from three-point territory.

Forward Kelenna Azubuike and Hayes led Kentucky with 16 points each, while freshman guard Rajon Rondo picked up 12 points.

Eastern outrebounded Kentucky 35-31 and shot 44.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent (6-18) from three-point land. Kentucky hit 51.0 percent from the field, but only 18.2 percent (2-11) from three-point range. Kentucky hit 18-26 (69.2 percent) to EKU's 6-11 from the free throw line (54.5).

NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTES

A Hoosiers Story: The Colonels, who certainly played the part of Hickory from Hoosiers in the all-time great hoops movie, got a little taste of Hoosiers on Wednesday. The team went to Butler University for practice in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, the site where the state championship scenes were filmed in the movie. The team went through its game preparations in a two-hour workout in the famous gym.

Open Practice Session: As a part of the NCAA festivities, the Colonels went through a 50-minute workout in the RCA Dome that was open to the public on Wednesday. A large crowd, which was estimated at around 1,500, was on hand for the practice session. In fact, several bus loads of Indianapolis school children filed into the arena while the Colonels were on the floor and began chanting for the team. The team paid the students back for their support with a few high-flying dunks that got the crowd excited.

Locker Room Visitors: The Colonels had several distinguished visitors in the locker room following the game. EKU president Joanne Glasser accompanied Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher for a few brief words to the team, and then UK president Dr. Lee Todd stopped by to congratulate the Colonels on a well-played game.

Home Front Support: A huge contingent of EKU fans was in the RCA Dome for Thursday's game, but Richmond certainly had its fair share of support for the team. More than 2,000 students gathered in EKU's Alumni Coliseum to watch the game on two large projection screens and cheered on the team during the CBS Broadcast of the game.

National Exposure: The Colonels got several bits of national news coverage on Thursday. USA Today had a large feature on the Colonels in the Life section, as well as a story in the sports section of the national newspaper. The team was also mentioned on ESPN's Cold Pizza in a segment featuring Kentucky's own country music duo, Montgomery Gentry. The EKU-UK game also received 100 percent national coverage at the start of the game, and held on to a large portion of that audience throughout the day, due to the closeness of the game.