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College basketball

Top 25 men: Iowa State adds Kansas to trophy wall

Associated Press
Published February 20, 2005

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LAWRENCE, Kan. - The Iowa State Cyclones are well past their humble goal of stopping an embarrassing six-game losing streak.

Now they're beating ranked teams on the road and riding a season-saving, seven-game winning streak. After starting the Big 12 season 0-5, they're ready to settle for nothing less than an NCAA tournament bid.

Curtis Stinson scored 29, including the game-winner in the lane with 5.1 seconds left in overtime, and the Cyclones stunned No.2 Kansas 63-61 on Saturday. Stinson had all seven of Iowa State's points in the overtime.

The win snapped the Jayhawks' 32-game conference home winning streak and could eventually cost Kansas a No.1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The Jayhawks nearly lost in regulation, but erased a nine-point deficit in the last 2 minutes. But all game long they had no answer for Stinson or Iowa State's 2-3 zone which held them to a season-low point total.

Five days after losing by one point in double overtime at Texas Tech, the Jayhawks shot only 34.5 percent and were 4-for-23 from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Cyclones have beaten Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Kansas - all ranked teams - in the streak and won three conference road games after not winning a league game away from home for almost 4 years.

Stinson's winning shot came right after Langford missed two free throws at the other end. Langford then missed a desperation 17-footer at the buzzer.

Langford tied it 56-all with a 4-footer over Jared Homan with 6 seconds left in regulation.

"We made it tough on ourselves today because we didn't make our shots," Langford said. "All in all, it was just one of those days when things just didn't seem to go right."

The Jayhawks were without forward Christian Moody, who was nursing an infected knee and might not be ready for Monday night's game at No. 21 Oklahoma.

Wayne Simien had 17 points and 11 rebounds for Kansas, but took only seven shots. He was a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line but J.R. Giddens, Kansas' 3-point specialist, was 3-for-16 from the field, including 1-for-11 from beyond the arc.

NO. 1 ILLINOIS 75, IOWA 65: Deron Williams and Dee Brown each scored 18 points and Illinois turned back repeated threats from Iowa to remain unbeaten. Illinois survived foul problems, a determined opponent and a subpar game by leading scorer Luther Head.

A gritty effort wasn't quite enough for Iowa. The Hawkeyes trailed by just two points with 41/2 minutes to play before a 14-5 run finished them off.

SYRACUSE 60: Craig Smith had 16 points and 15 rebounds to help the Eagles win a matchup of top 10 teams that was one of the most anticipated games in BC history.

Jared Dudley scored 21 for BC and dribbled out the final seconds, throwing the ball in the air with a triumphant yell as the buzzer sounded and the sellout crowd at Conte Forum stormed the court. Jermaine Watson went 5-of-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to hold back the Orange.

NO. 8 OKLAHOMA ST. 85, TEXAS TECH 56: John Lucas III scored 25 points and JamesOn Curry had 10 of his 15 in the second half as moved into a tie for first place with Kansas in the Big 12. Curry scored 10 during a 14-2 run that helped Oklahoma State pull away early in the second half.

NO. 11 MICHIGAN ST. 68, PURDUE 57: Alan Anderson and Maurice Ager each scored 12 to lead the Spartans past Purdue on the day retiring coach Gene Keady was honored.

Keady was his old, fiery self during a game in which former players, managers and coaches covered the court that bears his name during a halftime ceremony. Dressed in a black suit and gold tie, Keady flailed his arms at officials looking for calls, and barked at out-of-position players. He even drew a technical foul in the second half and then - characteristically - slammed his jacket to the floor.

NO. 13 GONZAGA 75, SAN FRANCISCO 73: Adam Morrison's jumper with less than a second remaining pushed Gonzaga past San Francisco. Morrison scored a career-high 28 as the Bulldogs moved 21/2 games ahead of Saint Mary's in the race for the West Coast Conference regular season championship.

NO. 14 UTAH 65, AIR FORCE 56: Andrew Bogut scored 20 of his 23 in the second half to lead Utah to its 18th straight win. The Utes snapped Air Force's 24-game home winning streak. Jacob Burtschi had 15 for the Falcons.

NO. 15 WASHINGTON 68, WASHINGTON ST. 55: Tre Simmons scored 16 and Mike Jensen added 13 for the Huskies, who led 34-17 at the half after holding WSU to 35 percent shooting and forcing 12 turnovers. The Cougars wound up with a season-high 22 turnovers. Freshman Kyle Weaver led Washington State with 15 points.

NO. 18 CONNECTICUT 85, RUTGERS 63: Charlie Villanueva and Josh Boone each scored 21 and Connecticut used an early 26-5 run to embarrass Rutgers in a game in which some Scarlet Knights' students called for the firing of coach Gary Waters. Connecticut hit eight 3-pointers and made a couple of highlight film dunks in handing Rutgers its 12th loss in 14 games.

NO. 21 OKLAHOMA 69, KANSAS ST. 68: Drew Lavender's improbable basket at the buzzer capped his season-high 29 points and gave Oklahoma a comeback win. It took a hurried video review at the scorer's table to give the Sooners credit for the field goal.

Clent Stewart stole David Godbold's inbounds pass and then hit the second of two free throws with 4.5 seconds to go, putting Kansas State (13-10, 3-9) up 68-67.

But the 5-foot-7 Lavender tore down the court and flipped the ball up from the baseline with less than a second left. Time expired as the ball hit the rim, bounced twice - each time just missing an Oklahoma player's hands - and fell through.

[Last modified February 20, 2005, 00:54:14]