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Big 12 Basketball Roundup
Published Thursday, February 04, 2010 12:04 AM

No. 1 Kansas 72, Colorado 66, OT: BOULDER, Colo. -- Marcus Morris scored six of his 15 points in overtime and grabbed a key rebound that helped top-ranked Kansas avoid what would have been the season's biggest upset with a 72-66 victory over Colorado on Wednesday night.

Cole Aldrich recorded his fourth straight double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds and he blocked five shots to help the Jayhawks (21-1, 7-0 Big 12) beat the Buffaloes (11-11, 2-6) for the 14th straight time.

The Buffs have never beaten a top-ranked team in 13 tries, including six against Kansas.

The No. 1 team has lost each of the last two weeks, Texas and Kentucky.

Marcus Relphorde's two free throws with 56 seconds left in regulation gave the Buffaloes their first -- and only -- lead at 60-59, but Sherron Collins made one of two free throws to tie it with 38 seconds left.

Colorado's Cory Higgins misfired a long-range jumper with 2 seconds left, and the Jayhawks were unable to get off a shot to avoid their second straight overtime -- and the first between these teams since 1964.

Aldrich hit a free throw to start the overtime and the Jayhawks never trailed again. Morris' consecutive baskets made it 67-60 and he had a key rebound that led to Collins' bucket that made it 69-64.

Collins finished with 16 points.

Relphorde led the Buffs with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Higgins had 14 points and Levi Knutson 13.

The Buffaloes got some bad news even before tip-off when coach Jeff Bzdelik said star freshman Alec Burns, who leads Big 12 newcomers with a 16.3 scoring average, would miss the game because of his sprained left knee. He had practiced the previous two days with a brace on and had expressed his hope to play.

Still, they had confidence in upsetting No. 1.

Despite battling the bigger Jayhawks even on the boards in the game's first 10 minutes, they found themselves trailing 21-8 because Kansas hit eight of its first 11 shots while the Buffs were 3 of 15.

Trailing 24-8, the Buffs relied on a balanced offense and opportunistic defense to go on an 18-6 run that pulled them within 30-26 and ignited the rare sellout crowd at the Coors Events Center, which for once had Buffs fans outnumbering the Jayhawks' faithful.

Kansas led 34-28 at halftime and coach Bill Self had to be disappointed in the Jayhawks' uncharacteristic yips at the free-throw line, where they were just 6 of 15.

The Buffs were 1 of 5 from the line, but having recovered from their early deficit, they were the ones who took the momentum into the locker room.

Knutson hit quick consecutive 3-pointers from the right corner, in front of his bench, to tie it and force Kansas to call a timeout less than 90 seconds into the second half.

From then on, it was a close, thrilling game.

*

No. 20 Baylor 84, Iowa State 63: WACO -- LaceDarius Dunn scored 21 points, including four 3-pointers, Ekpe Udoh had his 11th double-double of the season and No. 20 Baylor backed up its big win on the road with an 84-63 victory over Iowa State on Wednesday night.

Udoh had 19 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots while Tweety Carter scored 14 points for the Bears (17-4, 4-3 Big 12), who were coming off an overtime victory Saturday at then-No. 6 Texas. They had lost to Kansas State before that in their last home game to end a school-record 11-game winning streak at the Ferrell Center.

Anthony Jones hit a 3-pointer to start a 7-0 run for Baylor and stretch its lead to 10 after Iowa State (13-9, 2-5) got a free throw in the opening seconds after halftime. There had been six ties and six lead changes in the first half, but none after that.

Craig Brackins had 19 points and Marquis Gilstrap added 15 for the Cyclones, who have lost four of five.

Dunn made a 3-pointer on the first shot of the game, and his last came with 6:15 remaining with an extremely frustrated Iowa State coach Greg McDermott fuming on the sideline.

After Carter missed a 3, Brackins was ahead of everybody when he got a long pass and went up for a slam. He missed when A.J. Walton caught up and swatted at the ball. McDermott was livid that a foul wasn't called, and play continued with Dunn hitting from long range to make it 65-49.

McDermott went under the basket to have words with the official during an ensuing timeout. When there was another timeout only seconds later, he conversed with another official though he avoided getting a technical foul.

Things really turned to fun for Baylor after that, with slam dunks from three different players on consecutive possessions.

Dunn had the first slam on an ally-oop pass from Udoh, who got the next slam before Quincy Acy, who finished with 10 points, threw one down. Walton was open at the basket the next time down, but settled for a layup instead.

The final margin was the largest of the game and Baylor had only eight turnovers.

Udoh should have had another assist, but instead was given a missed shot when his pass rolled off the rim -- and was grabbed by Acy for a slam. That ended a wild sequence when Carter missed a 3-pointer and the ball bounced to the other end of the court. Dunn outran several Cyclones and saved it from going out of bounds to Walton.

Iowa State has lost 17 consecutive games against ranked teams, including five this season.

It is only the fourth time in school history the Bears have won at least 17 games in their first 21. The others were all NCAA tournament teams -- 1946, 1948 and 2008.

WOMEN

No. 4 Nebraska 88, No. 10 Oklahoma State 67: LINCOLN, Neb. -- Kelsey Griffin scored 19 points and Yvonne Turner added 17 to lead five Nebraska players in double figures and the fourth-ranked Cornhuskers blew out No. 10 Oklahoma State 88-67 on Wednesday night.

Oklahoma State, coming off a road win against then-No. 8 Texas A&M, flopped in its first game ever as a Top 10 team.

Nebraska (20-0, 7-0 Big 12) led by double digits five minutes into the game. The advantage grew to 25 on Turner's four-point play, and the Huskers were up 51-27 at half.

OSU (18-4, 6-2), meanwhile, missed 10 of its first 11 shots and committed seven turnovers in the first 9 minutes.

Andrea Riley, the nation's leading scorer, missed seven shots in a row before making her first basket 12 minutes into the game. Riley sat out most of the second half with four fouls and finished with a season-low 15 points, 11 under her average.

*

No. 17 Texas 75, No. 13 Oklahoma 57: NORMAN, Okla. -- Ashleigh Fontenette scored 21 points, Brittainey Raven added 17 points and Texas continued its rise in the Big 12 with a victory against Oklahoma.

With Oklahoma point guard Danielle Robinson and center Abi Olajuwon both on the bench with four fouls, Texas (15-6, 4-3 Big 12) surged ahead with 12 straight points after the midway point of the second half. Erika Arriaran scored four in a row to give the Longhorns a nine-point lead and even Robinson's return didn't stem the tide for the Sooners.

Fontenette, Earnesia Williams and Raven cut inside for easy layups on consecutive possessions to push the lead to 56-41 with 6:54 remaining.

The Sooners (15-6, 5-3) could get no closer than 11 after that. Amanda Thompson led Oklahoma with 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Robinson scored 16 before fouling out.

*

No. 15 Baylor 65, Kansas State 47: MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Brittney Griner had her fourth career dunk on the way to 26 points and blocked eight shots to singlehandedly overwhelm Kansas State defensively, lifting Baylor to a victory over the Wildcats.

Griner dominated defensively by swatting shots and forcing Kansas State (11-10, 3-4) away from the basket to give Baylor (16-5, 3-4 Big 12) its first true road win since beating California on Nov. 22. She broke the Big 12 single-season record for blocks in a season with 122 and set a Bramlage Coliseum record for blocks by an opponent.

The 6-foot-8 freshman took over offensively in the second half, scoring 17 points, including a one-handed dunk on a putback with just under 5 minutes left.

*

No. 22 Iowa State 63, Texas Tech 48: AMES, Iowa -- Kelsey Bolte scored 19 points, including hitting five 3-pointers, and Iowa State beat Texas Tech.

Alison Lacey added 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Cyclones (17-4, 5-3 Big 12), who won for the fifth time in six games. Texas Tech (13-8, 1-6) dropped its sixth straight Big 12 Conference game, all to teams ranked in the Top 25.

Iowa State, the league's top defensive team, held the Lady Raiders to 32.7 percent shooting and finished with a 39-25 rebounding edge.

Ashlee Roberson led the Lady Raiders with 12 points.



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