Sports

College basketball

Wildcats end hex vs. Kansas

Associated Press
Published January 15, 2006

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LAWRENCE, Kan. - In just three days, Kansas State took its coach from the lowest point of his career to the rush of beating the Wildcats' archrival for the first time.

"Could you have believed it?" Jim Wooldridge said Saturday, after his team rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to beat Kansas 59-55 and snap a 31-game losing streak to the Jayhawks. "How could you have guessed that anything like this was going to happen?"

The Wildcats were coming off a 57-42 home loss to Nebraska in which they made only 11 field goals, a loss Wooldridge called his most embarrassing as a player or coach.

Akeem Wright, 1-for-5 from the free-throw line to that point, sealed K-State's win by hitting the second of two free throws with nine seconds left. Clent Stewart led K-State (10-4) with 15 points. The Wildcats won for the first time in the series since a 68-64 victory - also in Lawrence - on Jan. 17, 1994.

Russell Robinson's 3-pointer tied it at 50 with just under three minutes to go, but the Jayhawks (10-5) never led again.

Freshman guard Brandon Rush, suspended Thursday by the NCAA but reinstated a day later, had 12 points for the Jayhawks. In a statement, the school said the NCAA first determined that Rush had improperly received benefits from an agent after applying for the 2005 NBA draft. He later withdrew his application and signed with KU.

OKLAHOMA ST. 66, BAYLOR 48: Torre Johnson had 26 points and 12 rebounds as the Cowboys spoiled Baylor's first home game this season. After serving an unprecedented NCAA penalty that banned them from any nonconference games, then playing their first game on the road, the Bears played on campus for the first time since March.

IOWA 80, PENN ST. 76: Adam Haluska scored a career-high 29 for the visiting Hawkeyes. Greg Brunner hit two free throws to put the Hawkeyes up 74-73 with 48 seconds left and Iowa hit six more free throws afterward.

COLORADO 74, MISSOURI 71: Richard Roby scored a career-best 33 and Chris Copeland hit the last of Colorado's season-best 13 3-pointers with 0.2 seconds left. CU ended an eight-game losing streak at Missouri.

PURDUE 72, MINNESOTA 55: Marcus White scored 11 of his 17 in the second half to lead the host Boilermakers in a matchup of two teams that came in winless in the Big Ten.

State

UCF 66, HOUSTON 56: Anthony Williams scored 25 and led the visiting Golden Knights with five blocked shots as Central Florida (7-7, 1-1) earned its first Conference USA victory.

DENVER 80, FIU 55: Steve Wetrich scored 23 and was 6-for-7 on 3-pointers for host Denver. The Panthers shot 32 percent from the field and were 2-for-22 on 3-pointers. Ivan Almonte scored 11 to lead Florida International (3-13).

B-CC 81, S.C. ST. 71: Antonio Webb scored 29 and Michael Williams tied a career high with 28 points and had 10 rebounds for visiting Bethune-Cookman.

FAMU 75, N.C. A&T 71: Tony Tate scored 21 as visiting Florida A&M (7-9) kept North Carolina A&T winless. The Rattlers shot 60.7 percent - 75 percent from 3-point range - in the second half to rally from a 31-30 deficit.

BELMONT 87, STETSON 79: Boomer Herndon scored 29 for host Belmont. E.J. Gordon led the Hatters (2-12) with 19 points.

NOVA SE 75, ECKERD 69: Host Nova Southeastern hit six straight free throws in the final 36 seconds to end Eckerd's five-game winning streak. Matt Cenatus scored 15 to lead the Tritons.

[Last modified January 15, 2006, 01:48:18]

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