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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Langford lifts Jayhawks


Kansas guard Keith Langford, right, recovers from a stumble as he is pressured by Georgia Tech forward Ra'Sean Dickey during Saturday's overtime game. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From wire reports

Well before Keith Langford had dropped in the game-winning shot Saturday afternoon, the Kansas senior guard knew he was part of something special.

“This is going to be on ESPN Classic for a long time,” Langford told Georgia Tech point guard, and friend, Jarrett Jack.

No one in Allen Fieldhouse disagreed with that assessment, especially after Langford upstaged his friend and made sure the game will be remembered as a Kansas classic by dropping the game-winning shot with 3.3 seconds remaining in overtime.

The shot propelled the No. 2 Jayhawks to a come-from-behind 70-68 victory against No. 9 Tech at sold-out Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan.

Langford, who’d missed a similar shot at the end of regulation, made this one over Tech guard Mario West and center Luke Schenscher.

“The kid made a big play,” Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. “Give kids credit who have the courage to step up.”

Langford’s heroics weren’t limited to that one shot. He made two critical 3-pointers in the final minutes of regulation, including one that got a friendly bounce off the rim and tied the game at 61 with 1:34 left – the first time Tech had not led since the game started.

If not for Langford’s last-minute work, the game surely would have been remembered as Jack’s second takedown of the Jayhawks (9-0).

The first came in March, when Jack carried Tech to the Final Four with 29 points in a 79-71 overtime victory against Kansas. The second seemed destined Saturday, when, just as in March, leading scorer B.J. Elder was unable to play effectively because of injury.

Then it was an ankle injury that limited Elder to 12 scoreless minutes. This time it was a strained left hamstring that left Elder a cheerleader after seven first-half minutes and three points.

Without his team’s leading scorer, Jack proved again that he could carry the Yellow Jackets (8-2). He scored 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the floor in 42 grueling minutes.

(18) Alabama 68, New Orleans 57: Earnest Shelton scored 14 points and Jermario Davidson had 12 points and nine rebounds to help the Crimson Tide beat the Privateers in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Ronald Steele added 10 points for Alabama (11-2).

Bo McCalebb led New Orleans (5-8) with 26 points, and Jamie McNeilly had 11.

Alabama, which opens conference play Wednesday night at Vanderbilt, took a 15-5 lead and led by as many as 18 points in the first half en route to a 41-24 halftime lead. The Tide increased the margin to 24 early in the second half.