Kansas tops Saint Louis for CBE title

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jeff Withey matched a career high with 25 points, Travis Releford added 23 and No. 12 Kansas held off Saint Louis 73-59 on Tuesday night to win the CBE Classic.

Releford had 21 points in the first half, and Withey had 15 in the second, the inside-outside duo carrying the Jayhawks (4-1) despite every effort by the Billikens (2-2) and senior forward Cody Ellis to get back into the game in the waning minutes of the second half.

The Jayhawks improved to 16-4 all-time at the Sprint Center, the site of this season’s Big 12 tournament, and where they’ll play Oregon State in a nonconference game next week.

Ellis finished with 19 points for the Billikens. Mike McCall Jr. added 13 points, Cory Remekun had 10 points and Dwayne Evans pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.

The Jayhawks got off to the same kind of start they had the previous night, when they buried Washington State under a 21-5 onslaught. Releford keyed it with back-to-back 3-pointers, and Elijah Johnson’s only basket of the first half finished off an opening 14-4 run.

After the Billikens clawed back within four, Releford and Withey combined to score 14 straight points as Kansas established a 28-10 edge and threatened to put the game away.