LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Big Blue Gulf got wider for Arkansas.

Kentucky keeps beating the Razorbacks, especially in Rupp Arena.

The Wildcats stretched Arkansas’ losing streak at Rupp Arena to seven games and 14 years by rallying to beat Arkansas 63-58 Saturday before a sellout crowd of 24, 371.

It was Kentucky’s eighth consecutive victory in the series going back to the 2001 SEC Tournament semifinals in Nashville, Tenn.

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Arkansas (18-8, 7-5 SEC ) hasn’t beaten Kentucky (15-10, 9-3 ) since 2001 in Fayetteville and hasn’t won at Rupp Arena since 1994, when the Razorbacks won the NCAA championship.

“As a senior class, we never beat them, and that’s very, very disappointing,” Arkansas center Steven Hill said. “But you’ve got to give them a lot of credit.”

The Razorbacks were poised to break their Kentucky and Rupp Arena losing streaks, taking a 51-48 lead on a 15-foot jump shot by senior forward Sonny Weems with 5: 04 left.

But the Wildcats — especially senior guards Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford — were too tough for Arkansas with the game on the line.

They combined for 36 points, 18 each, and scored Kentucky’s final 15 points.

Bradley’s 12-foot jump shot, on which he faded back to get a little separation from Arkansas guard Gary Ervin, put the Wildcats ahead for good at 57-55. He hit it with 1: 16 left and the 35-second shot clock down to two ticks.

“The shot felt really good,” Bradley said. “It felt a little bit better because Gary Ervin’s from Brooklyn.”

Bradley played at Manhattan Park West High School in New York. Ervin, a fifth-year senior, played at Brooklyn Robeson.

“He played really good defense; luckily, the shot went in for me and we got the win,” Bradley said. “That’s the biggest thing.”

Crawford then partially blocked a shot by Weems — who had a game-high 26 points — and hit two free throws to make it 59-55 with 51. 1 seconds left.

Bradley hit 4 of 6 free throws in the final 22. 6 seconds to clinch the victory.

Arkansas scored just five points in the final 2: 35 as Kentucky made the plays on offense and defense to pull away.

“I think we just let their main players get into it too much,” Weems said, referring to Bradley and Crawford. “The last few minutes of the game, they stepped up and made plays.”

The Razorbacks didn’t.

“This is a game we let slip away,” Ervin said. “We had the lead the last couple of minutes, and we didn’t finish.

“ The last four minutes of a game on the road you’ve got to get stops, and we didn’t do that.”

The pregame attention centered on Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey returning to Rupp Arena, where he played for Kentucky and has his retired jersey hanging in the rafters.

But Ervin said the Razorbacks weren’t focused on trying to win the game for Pelphrey.

”We wanted to win — period, ” Ervin said. “Coach Pelphrey coming back was a big deal, but I don’t think that was in the back of his mind or in our minds.

“ He’s got a lot of years left to come in here and coach. But this was our last game here [for the seniors ], and we really wanted it.”

Pelphrey wanted it for the Razorbacks, too, especially his seniors.

“These guys have never beaten Kentucky, and six of them don’t get a chance anymore,” Pelphrey said. “I so desperately want to help these guys to have special memories.”

The Wildcats outrebounded Arkansas 38-23 and got strong inside play from 6-8 freshman Patrick Patterson (14 points, 11 rebounds ) and 6-9 sophomore Perry Stevenson (8 points, 7 rebounds ) to go along with the floor games of Bradley and Crawford.

But Kentucky struggled to get it inside late in the game.

“Arkansas did a great job taking us out of our offense, and it came down to making 1-on-1 plays,” Crawford said. “That’s what I did, and that’s what Ramel [Bradley ] did.”

Kentucky improved to 7-1 in SEC games decided by six or fewer points.

“Our seniors were as clutch as you can be down the stretch,” Wildcats Coach Billy Gillispie said.

Weems scored 22 points in the second half to help Arkansas move ahead after trailing 27-22 at halftime. He finished 10 of 20 from the field, including 3 of 6 on threepointers.

“Weems is a great player, an NBA player no question,” Gillispie said. “You know you are not going to be able to hold him down like we did in the first half. He definitely put his team on his shoulders and was fantastic.”

Ervin was the Razorbacks ’ second-leading scorer with eight points. Sophomore guard Patrick Beverley finished 1 of 8 from the field with four points.

“I feel like there are stretches where we don’t sustain play,” Pelphrey said. “I think we’re making progress. I think we can be tougher. I think we can be nastier.

“ We’re going to stay on these guys. We’re going to get that way.”