No. 7 Kansas beats No. 6 Baylor to grab share of Big 12
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Baylor forward Perry Jones III fouls Kansas center Jeff Withey as Cory Jefferson (34) helps defend in the first half Wednesday in Waco, Texas. A big run to start the second half lifted Kansas to a win in a game featuring two teams in the AP top 10.
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Jeff Withey scored a career-high 25 points and Kansas went ahead to stay during a stretch without Thomas Robinson as the visiting seventh-ranked Jayhawks had another convincing victory against sixth-ranked Baylor, winning, 68-54.
After a 14-3 run over the final 4 1/2 minutes of the first half with Robinson on the bench to take its first lead, Kansas (19-5, 9-2 Big 12) scored 14 consecutive points early in the second half to take complete control of the game.
The Jayhawks, coming off a 74-71 loss Saturday at fourth-ranked Missouri, grabbed a share of the Big 12 lead with the Tigers.
Baylor (21-3, 8-3) was 17-0 with the longest winning streak in school history before a 92-74 loss at Kansas just more than three weeks ago. The Bears followed that with a one-point home loss to Missouri, where they play their next game Saturday.
Kansas had lost two of its previous three games, but still hasn't lost consecutive games in more than six years -- a span of 228 games since January 2006.
After the first half-ending spurt for a 33-30 lead, Withey had a turnover to start the second half before Pierre Jackson came away from a scrum on the floor with the ball for a Baylor layup.
Tyshawn Taylor finished with 19 points this time, his ninth consecutive game with at least 15. Robinson had 15 points with 11 rebounds.
Jackson led Baylor with 16 points, while Quincy Acy and Cory Jefferson had 11 each.
Withey had already matched his previous career high of 15 on a free throw with 2 1/2 minutes left in the first half to get Kansas within 30-25. He then blocked a shot by Jefferson, which led to a 3-pointer by Conner Teahan.
Withey set his new career high when he made a tying layup with 1:34 left, and added to it in the second half.
The Jayhawks never led until Teahan's 3-pointer in the final minute made it 33-30.
Baylor worked the already raucous sellout crowd into a frenzy by scoring the first seven points. Kansas coach Bill Self called timeout less than two minutes into the game.
The opening play was an alley-oop pass from Jackson to Perry Jones III for a slam dunk.
Jackson then penetrated for a short floater after Withey was called for an offensive foul away from the ball.
The Bears were up, 7-0, when Jackson had another assist, a bounce pass to Quincy Miller for a 3-pointer from the right wing.
Neither Jones, the preseason Big 12 player of the year, or Miller had another field goal.
• Michigan State 77, Penn State 57: Draymond Green had 23 points and 12 rebounds and made some timely shots to help No. 11 Michigan State (19-5, 8-3 Big Ten) pull away from visiting Penn State (10-15, 2-10). The Spartans pulled within a game of conference-leading and third-ranked Ohio State, setting up a big game Saturday against the Buckeyes.
• Boston College 64, Florida State 60: Jordan Daniels scored a career-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead host Boston College (8-16, 3-7) to a victory against No. 15 Florida State (16-7, 7-2) and snap the ACC-leading Seminoles' win streak at seven games.
• Virginia 68, Wake Forest 44: Mike Scott made all nine of his shots and scored 19 points to lead No. 19 Virginia (19-4, 6-3 ACC) to a victory against visiting Wake Forest (11-13, 2-8). Joe Harris added 11 points and three other players were in double figures for the Cavaliers.
• St. Bonaventure 69, Massachusetts 54: Megan Van Tatenhove and Armelia Horton scored 17 points each as visiting No. 25 St. Bonaventure (23-2, 10-0 Atlantic 10) tied a school single-season record for wins with a victory against Massachusetts (6-18, 1-8).
• Georgetown 56, Seton Hall 51: Sugar Rodgers had 23 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 14 Georgetown (19-5, 8-3 Big East) beat visiting Seton Hall (7-18, 0-11).
• Miami 61, North Carolina 37: Shenise Johnson scored 19 points to lead host No. 6 Miami (21-3, 10-1 ACC) past No. 22 North Carolina (17-7, 7-4).
• Duquesne 63, Rhode Island 42: Alex Gensler had 13 points to lead five Dukes in double figures as visiting Duquesne (16-8, 4-5 A-10) defeated Rhode Island (1-23, 0-9). Belma Nurkic scored 11 points and Wumi Agunblade, Carly Vendemia and Jocelyn Floyd all added 10 points each in the win.
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
