Jayhawks soar over the Lumberjacks

Preseason All-American Brandon Rush scored 21 points and No. 3 Kansas got its season off to a roaring start Saturday night with a 91-57 victory over Northern Arizona.

Five players scored in double figures for the Jayhawks, who return all five starters and almost 86 percent of their scoring from the team that went 25-8 last season and won the Big 12 championship.

Northern Arizona, which has four starters back from last year’s Big Sky Conference champion, was outclassed from start to finish as the Jayhawks hit 10 of their first 12 shots and seized a 41-17 lead with a 19-4 run culminated by freshman Sherron Collins’ driving layup.

With more than 14 minutes left, Kansas had almost all reserves on the court, including a pair of freshmen who provided the most spectacular play of the night. Guard Brady Morningstar threw an alley-oop pass to 6-foot-9 Darrell Arthur, who caught it with one hand and threw down a thunderous one-handed dunk for a 72-34 lead.

(7) Ohio St. 87, Loyola of Chicago 75: At Columbus, Ohio, Ron Lewis scored the first seven points of each half for Ohio State (2-0), finishing with 27 to lead the Buckeyes to a victory over the Ramblers (1-1) in the BCA Classic.

Lewis topped his previous Ohio State best of 26 points set against Penn State last season. He scored 34 points in the 2003-04 season opener for Bowling Green.

Lewis also had 11 rebounds and three assists. He was 8 of 14 from the field, including 4 of 6 3-pointers, and also made all but one of his eight free throws.

(8) Georgetown 69, Hartford 59: At Washington, Jeff Green had 17 points and seven rebounds to help the Hoyas pull away from the Hawks for a tougher-than-expected victory in the season opener for both teams.

Roy Hibbert added 16 points for Georgetown.

(20) Syracuse 78, Penn 60: At Syracuse, N.Y., Eric Devendorf and Terrence Roberts each scored 16 points and Matt Gorman had a career-high 12 points, leading the Orange (2-0) to a victory over the Quakers (0-2).

Demetris Nichols also had 12 points for the Orange, who nearly were as good from long range (8 for 18 on 3-pointers) as they were from the foul line (16 for 27).

Josh Wright, making the second straight start of his career at point guard, had seven points, six assists and four turnovers.

Top 25 women

Bridgette Mitchell had 18 points and 13 rebounds in her first college game to help No. 6 Duke open the season with a 102-49 victory over Northeastern.

Fellow newcomer Joy Cheek added 12 points and 11 rebounds for Duke. Mitchell and Cheek are the first Blue Devils to open their careers with double-doubles since Monique Currie had 17 points and 10 rebounds against Texas Tech on Nov. 11, 2001.

Each of the 10 Blue Devils who played against Northeastern made at least one basket, and five scored in double figures. Starters Carrem Gay and Abby Waner each had 16 points and Brittany Mitch added 10.

Duke led 43-22 at the break and then opened the second half with a 15-0 run.