Jayhawks rout Huskies

Cole Aldrich had a career-high 16 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked six shots, helping No. 22 Kansas rout Washington 73-54 on Monday night in the semifinals of the CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo.

After overwhelming Missouri-Kansas City and Florida Gulf Coast in a pair of home games, Kansas (3-0) faced its first real test against Washington (2-2).

The Jayhawks were certainly up for it.

Kansas held Washington to 29 percent shooting, blocked 10 shots and had a decent night from the floor (50 percent) to move onto Tuesday’s championship game against Syracuse.

The Jayhawks did it with contributions from the entire lineup.

Isaiah Thomas led Washington with 17 points and Jon Brockman finished with 18 rebounds.

Sherron Collins had his typical effort, pulling up for jumpers and driving the lane for 18 points and five assists. Freshman Marcus Morris added 13 points.

The key, though, was Aldrich.

The sophomore center struggled with foul trouble in Kansas’ first two games, getting two within the first 31/2 minutes in each. This time, he was able to avoid contact and, boy, what a difference it made.

Active on the offensive end, Aldrich backed down for jumphooks, passed out when the Huskies doubled. He finished 6 for 12, finishing the night with a two-handed dunk before leaving to a loud ovation with just under 2 minutes left.

As good as he was on offense, Aldrich simply dominated at the other end, using his long arms to block four shots by halftime, alter several others.

Kansas’ only problem was keeping the Huskies off the offensive glass. The Huskies had a dominating 17-1 advantage by halftime – Brockman and Grant had five each – resulting in 14 more shots than the Jayhawks.

Washington just had a hard time making the extra attempts, shooting 9 for 38 in the first half, including 1 of 10 from 3-point range.

•Orange oust Gators: Paul Harris had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Jonny Flynn scored 18 points and Syracuse beat No. 17 Florida 89-83 in the semifinals of the CBE Classic.

Syracuse (4-0) shot 51 percent from the field, out-rebounded Florida (3-1) 40-30 and had 19 assists on 31 field goals. Andy Rautins hit five 3-pointers and had 15 points – all in the first half – Arinze Onuaku added 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Kris Joseph had 10 points for the Orange.

Syracuse will face No. 22 Kansas tonight in the championship game of a tournament that features four of the last six NCAA champions.

•Tar Heels roll in Maui Invitational: Senior Danny Green scored a career-high 26 points and No. 1 North Carolina, again playing without Tyler Hansbrough, beat Chaminade 115-70 in the opening round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.

North Carolina (4-0) shot 52.5 percent in the first half (21 of 40), while holding the Silverswords (0-1) to 28.6 percent (8 of 28). The Tar Heels scored 21 points off Chaminade’s 13 first-half turnovers.

•UConn wins Paradise Slam: Jerome Dyson scored 21 points and No. 2 Connecticut beat No. 25 Wisconsin (4-1) 76-57 to win the Paradise Jam championship in Charlotte Amalie, U.S Virgin Islands.

Jeff Adrien had 14 points and Kemba Walker added 12 points and four steals for the Huskies (5-0), who led 38-28 at halftime. Hasheem Thabeet, who finished with nine points, seven rebounds and three blocks, was the tournament MVP.

•Curry leads Davidson: Stephen Curry scored 39 points and No. 24 Davidson beat Florida Atlantic (3-2) 76-60 in an NIT Season Tip-Off consolation game.

Andrew Lovedale added 13 points and 13 rebounds for the Wildcats (4-1), who overcame 37.1 percent shooting with a 49-38 rebounding edge.

Curry shot 13 of 21 from the field, including 5 of 9 on 3-pointers.

•In the Pac-10: Arizona had scoring streaks of 12 and 13 points in the first 13 minutes and rolled to an 86-52 win over Mississippi Valley State (0-6) in the NIT Season Tip-Off in Athens, Ga. Chase Budinger scored 24 points while making 10 of 11 shots from the field for Arizona (2-1). Jordan Hill added 19 points with three blocked shots. … Travis Pinick blocked a 3-point attempt by Oregon State’s (0-3) Daniel Deane in the final seconds to secure Yale’s 53-52 win at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore. Pinick had a team-high 12 points and six rebounds for Yale (1-3) and Alex Zampier added 10 points.