Kansas Shows Technical Finesse

Top 25

Technical fouls against Oklahoma fueled rallies in each half for No. 2 Kansas as the Jayhawks beat the Sooners 93-76 Saturday at Lawrence, Kan.

The Jayhawks (7-2 Big Eight, 18-3) had five players in double figures. Seven-footer Greg Ostertag led the way with 17 points.

The Sooners dropped to 4-4, 17-6.

A technical on Oklahoma center James Mayden with 7 minutes left in the first half led to a 10-0 run by the Jayhawks that produced a 37-24 lead with 5:50 to play.

“I thought there was a big momentum change with that first technical,” Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson said. “I don’t question his effort, I question his judgment.

“The biggest problem for a team like ours is I’ve got a 6-4 post guy that’s battling a guy a foot taller than him. We’re deficient in areas, but we’re not deficient in heart. Their areas of strength are our areas of weakness and they took advantage of it today.”

(4) UMass 94, SW Louisiana 63

At Lafayette, La., Donta Bright had 15 points and Lou Roe added 14 with 11 rebounds as the Minutemen shook off a rough week.

Three Minutemen (18-2) made easy prey of the Cajuns (5-17) from the start, taking a 16-1 lead.

(7) Michigan St. 68, Penn St. 53

At State College, Pa., Shawn Respert scored 21 points as the Spartans (9-2, 17-3) held onto first place in the Big Ten by beating the Nittany Lions (5-6, 13-7).

(8) Maryland 80, Florida St. 65

At College Park, Md., the Terrapins, in danger of losing the momentum gained by their win four days earlier over No. 1 North Carolina, shook off the pesky Seminoles with an 11-0 run in the closing minutes.

Joe Smith and Johnny Rhodes each scored 18 points for the Terrapins (9-2 ACC, 19-4). Florida State dropped to 4-7, 11-9.

(11) Wake Forest 62, Duke 61

At Durham, N.C., Randolph Childress beat the Blue Devils in the final seconds for the second straight season, hitting a 10-footer with 6 seconds left as the Demon Deacons (6-3 ACC, 15-5) edged the Blue Devils (1-10, 11-12).

(12) Arkansas 97, Vanderbilt 94 (OT)

At Nashville, Tenn., Corliss Williamson, shut down with five points in the second half, scored the first seven points in overtime as the Razorbacks (7-4 SEC, 19-5) beat the Commodores (4-6, 10-10).

(13) Missouri 81, (24) Okla. St. 79

At Columbia, Mo., Julian Winfield led a balanced attack with 13 points and 10 rebounds as the Tigers (7-2 Big Eight, 18-3) beat the Cowboys (6-2, 16-7).

The 6-foot-5 Winfield, who had a career-high 18 rebounds against Iowa State on Wednesday, enabled Missouri to overtake Oklahoma State and tie Kansas for the conference lead. The Cowboys’ Bryant Reeves had 16 points and seven rebounds.

(16) Villanova 81, Seton Hall 67

At East Rutherford, N.J., Eric Eberz scored 19 points and hit three 3-pointers to short-circuit secondhalf rallies by the Pirates.

Kerry Kittles added 23 points and hit two late 3-pointers to finish off the Pirates (6-6 Big East, 15-7) as Villanova (10-2, 17-5) swept the season series.

(17) Virginia 62, Clemson 44

At Clemson, S.C., Junior Burrough scored nine of his 13 points during a second-half run and the Cavaliers (8-3 ACC, 15-6) held on against the Tigers (3-7, 13-7).

(19) Iowa St. 72, Nebraska 69 OT

At Ames, Iowa, Fred Hoiberg scored 20 points, including seven of the Cyclones’ 12 points in overtime, as they ended a four-game losing streak.

Hoiberg got the Cyclones (4-5 Big Eight, 18-6) a 67-67 tie with his second basket of the overtime session, a 3-pointer from well beyond the line, then fed Julius Michalik under the basket as Iowa State took the lead for good, 69-67, with 31.6 seconds remaining. The Huskers fell to 3-5, 16-7.

Auburn 70, (21) Mississippi St. 69

At Starkville, Miss., Moochie Norris scored 19 of his 23 points in the second half and the Tigers held off a furious last-minute rally.

Auburn (5-6 SEC, 12-8) appeared to have the game wrapped up when Ray Donald’s free throw provided a 62-50 lead with 1:30 left. But the Tigers had to hit 8-of-12 free throws, including 7-of-8 by Norris, in the final 68 seconds to break the Bulldogs’ (7-3, 15-5) nine-game home winning streak.

(23) Alabama 74, LSU 66

At New Orleans, Jamal Faulkner and Antonio McDyess combined for 30 points, enough for the Crimson Tide to overcome the Tigers and Ronnie Henderson’s 40 points.

Alabama (7-3 SEC, 17-5) turned up the offense in the second half, shooting 57 percent from the field, but had trouble shaking LSU (5-5, 11-9).