College Hoops Marathon Comes To Finish Line: Jayhawks, Spartans Survive Scares

Cole Aldrich had 18 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots, and top-ranked Kansas dodged a bullet, beating Memphis, 57-55, in a rematch of the 2008 national championship game.

The contest, which was the second part of a doubleheader at the Scottrade Center and part of the Hall of Fame Showcase, went right down to the wire with Memphis’ Elliot Williams missing a potential winning three-point shot in the waning seconds.

Sherron Collins, who departed the game on a couple of occasions with what looked to be a cramp in his right thigh, added 12 points for the Jayhawks (2-0). Xavier Henry had 11 points and Marcus Morris 10 for Kansas.

Williams was the lone Memphis (1-1) player in double figures with 21 points, but the Tigers shot a woeful 34.5 percent for the game. That included a 6- for-25 effort from three-point range.

Henry’s layup extended Kansas’ lead to double-digits at 38-28 with nearly 14 minutes remaining, but the Tigers eventually came back under first-year head coach Josh Pastner.

After Aldrich hit two from the charity stripe, Doneal Mack hit a three-pointer with just over a minute remaining for a 54-52 margin. Collins was then credited with a basket when Will Coleman was called for goaltending with 29.8 seconds left.

Williams, though, hit a three-pointer essentially while falling away for a 56-55 difference with 16.7 seconds to go. Collins went 1-of-2 from the foul line with 15.3 ticks left, setting up the final play.

Williams dribbled on the right side, outside the arc and rose above the outstretched hand of Morris, but the ball clanked off the rim. Kansas secured the rebound as time expired.

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Willie Warren scored 24 points and dished out four assists, as 17th-ranked Oklahoma overcame a slow start to post a 72-61 win over UL-Monroe at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Tony Crocker chipped in 13 points, while Tommy Mason-Griffin and Cade Davis both finished with nine points for the Sooners (2-0), who notched the 1,500th victory in school history and the 150th for head coach Jeff Capel.

“A win is a win. It wasn’t pretty. You have to give a lot of credit to Louisiana-Monroe,” Capel said. “They were very prepared for this game. It felt like early they tried to take the air out of the ball a little bit, which was a little bit surprising. We didn’t come out with the energy that we needed to come out with — for whatever reason, I don’t know. It took us getting down and punched in the mouth for us to start punching back.”

Tony Hooper had 17 points and five rebounds to pace the Warhawks (1-2), who got 12 points and five boards from Rudy Turner.

“Coming in here on the road against the 17th-ranked team in the country is definitely a tall task,” said Warhawks head coach Orlando Early. “They’re bigger, stronger, deeper and more physical, and we were able to compete with them for most of the game.”

Oklahoma scored the first five points of the game, but UL-Monroe countered with an 11-0 run that Hooper capped with a three-pointer.

The Warhawks led 16-8 after Dynile Forbes knocked down a trey, but Oklahoma gradually closed the gap and went ahead 23-22 on a layup by Warren with 1:39 remaining in the first half. Oklahoma carried a 27-24 lead into the break.

Jarvis Hill hit a layup to give UL-Monroe its final lead of the game, 39-38, near the six-minute mark. The Sooners responded with a 9-0 run, and Crocker nailed a three-pointer to make it 53-42 with about 9 1/2 minutes remaining.

Oklahoma led by at least nine points the rest of the way.

The Sooners have won all four meetings with UL-Monroe…Forbes finished with 11 points…Oklahoma shot 47.7 percent from the floor, while the Warhawks made 45.5 percent of their shots.

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Brandon Paul had 20 points and Mike Davis scored 14 with 17 rebounds, as 23rd-ranked Illinois pulled away late to top Northern Illinois, 80-61, at Assembly Hall.

Demetri McCamey, Dominique Keller and Mike Tisdale each posted 10 points for the Illini (2-0), who blasted SIU-Edwardsville 96-69 in their season-opener last Friday.

Najul Ervin and Tony Nixon paced the visitors with 10 points apiece as the Huskies (0-2) collectively shot 36.8 percent from the field and turned the ball over 19 times. Northern Illinois lost to Northwestern, 77-55, in its opener last Friday.

Northern Illinois was in it early as Nixon drove the lane for two, then nailed a three-pointer before Ante Dzepina dropped in a layup to tie the game at 18 7 1/2 minutes into the game.

Paul, though, knocked down two three-pointers amid the visiting surge and kicked off an 18-4 run that got the Illini back on track. Davis had seven points to help carry the effort while Tyler Griffey finished it out with consecutive layups for a 36-22 lead at the seven-minute mark.

The surge continued and eventually stretched to 24-6 as Keller’s jump shot made it a 42-24 game with 5 1/2 minutes remaining.

The Huskies regrouped to score 14 of the final 17 points going into the break down 49-41 on back-to-back three-pointers from Michael Patton and Bryan Hall.

Northern Illinois picked up right where they left off to start the second half, scoring the first five points to make it a one possession game.

The Illini got the lead back to nine a short time later and a 10-0 run — capped by six straight points from Tisdale — opened up a 67-50 advantage with 9:14 to play.

The visitors kept hanging around and cut the deficit to 10 on back-to-back Ervin makes and a Tyler Storm three-pointer, but went nearly five minutes down the stretch without a field goal as Illinois pulled away.

A 9-0 run for the host ensued as Tisdale’s consecutive baskets with 3:21 to go were good for a 19-point lead — a margin that proved insurmountable for the Huskies.

Despite residing in the same state, this game marks the first-ever meeting between the Huskies and Illini on the hardwood…This was the second of four straight home games the Illini play to kick off the 2009-10 season. They next welcome Presbyterian on Saturday…The Huskies have lost 37 of their last 42 road games, and are just 1-30 all-time against Big Ten opponents away from home…Northern Illinois next opens its home schedule Friday against Tennessee State…McCamey also logged a game-high eight assists in the win for Illinois.

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Reginald Delk drained four three-pointers as part of his 20-point effort off the bench while Jared Swopshire posted 10 points and 11 rebounds, as the 20th-ranked Louisville Cardinals opened their 2009-10 season with a 96-66 victory over Arkansas in the Hall of Fame Showcase at Scottrade Center.

Samardo Samuels scored 17 points and Jerry Smith added 14 for Louisville (1-0), which reached the Elite Eight last season. Head coach Rick Pitino had a somewhat tumultuous offseason personally, but the new campaign is now underway for his Cardinals, who went 16-2 in the Big East last season.

Rontei Clarke posted 16 points for Arkansas (1-1), which opened its season last week with a 130-68 win over Alcorn State. Marshawn Powell posted 15 points in the losing effort.

The action was tight throughout the first half. With under eight minutes remaining, Smith nailed a three-pointer to give the Cardinals a 22-20 advantage, but on the following possession, Arkansas forward Michael Washington found room in the paint and his bucket from in close knotted the contest with 7:20 remaining.

Louisville scored the next five points, including a triple by Swopshire, but Jemal Farmer answered with a bucket soon after and the Razorbacks trailed 27-24 with just over five minutes to go before the break.

The Cardinals took control in the final minutes of the stanza with a 16-5 run. The spurt included three-pointers by Edgar Sosa, Swopshire and Delk, whose triple capped it for a 43-29 Louisville lead with 1:50 remaining.

Following a pair of free throws by Powell that brought the visitors within 43-31, Delk connected again from beyond the arc before two foul shots by Samuels sent the Cards into the locker room with a sizeable 48-31 lead.

Arkansas stormed out of the gate as the second half began. Within the first five minutes, the Razorbacks cut their deficit to 48-45 by scoring the first 14 points of the frame. Clarke’s three-pointer ignited the run and he followed it with another bucket moments later. A three-point play by Washington, a pair of layups by Powell and two free throws by Julysses Nobles completed the surge and brought Arkansas within three.

But the Cardinals woke up and started to pull away with a 29-8 run that covered a six-minute span. Delk, Smith and Preston Knowles all connected from three-point range during the run, and several other players contributed as Louisville took control. When Samuels drained a bucket with nine minutes remaining, Louisville led 77-53 and they never looked back.

Louisville now leads the all-time series, 4-3…The Cardinals won the battle on the glass, 47-36…Arkansas committed 16 turnovers, while Louisville was saddled with 10.

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Durrell Summers scored 17 of his game-high 21 points in the second half and pulled down 11 rebounds, as second-ranked Michigan State edged Gonzaga, 75-71, at the Breslin Center.

In a rematch of a classic triple-overtime Gonzaga win at the Maui Invitational in November 2005, the Bulldogs gave the Spartans all they could handle, but Tom Izzo’s team came away with the tight victory.

Kalin Lucas added 19 points and Raymar Morgan went 10-of-11 from the foul line and finished with 16 points despite playing with a hurt ankle for Michigan State (2-0), which was coming off a 97-58 rout of Florida Gulf Coast on Friday. The Spartans had to overcome a 13-point first-half deficit Tuesday and won their 41st straight game at home against a nonconference foe.

“All in all I’m thrilled with a victory,” said Izzo. “I think we beat a top-15 team if not better. That team is going to win a lot of games. I’m thrilled for some of the guys who bounced back. I talked about leadership, Kalin demonstrated some of that, Raymar demonstrated a lot of that, the way that kid played injured, he deserves a lot of credit from everybody, including me.”

Elias Harris had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs (1-1), who beat Mississippi Valley State by 18 points in their season opener. Robert Sacre also had 17 points in defeat.

“There are a lot of positives we can take out of this,” said Gonzaga coach Mark Few. “If you come in to Michigan State and play a Tom Izzo team, the first thing you have to do is compete, and our guys really competed. We battled and I thought we executed pretty darn well because we got the shots we wanted to get time and time again down the stretch. They defended well, but I thought we executed well enough to get some great looks. The shots just didn’t go down.”

Steven Gray’s two free throws gave the Bulldogs a 67-65 edge with 3:16 remaining, but Summers came through with a big three-pointer to put Michigan State ahead for good.

Lucas added a free throw and Morgan hit a layup with 2:08 left for a 71-67 difference.

Gray’s jumper and a 1-of-2 performance from Harris at the charity stripe made it a 71-70 margin with 1:08 remaining, but Lucas knifed through the lane for a scoop shot for a three-point lead.

Gray missed a pair of three-pointers at the other end, and Demrtri Goodson was called for a foul, sending Draymond Green to the line, but he missed both attempts, giving Gonzaga life.

Goodson was fouled on his way to the hoop with seven seconds left, but made 1- of-2 from the line. Summers then hit two free throws to lock up the victory.

Gonzaga raced to a 23-10 lead with nearly eight minutes left in the first half, but Michigan State was within 35-30 at the break.

“They punched us in the mouth, picked us up off the ground and punched us again,” said Izzo. “Early they were outrebounding us and we were turning the ball over at will. I thought we were ready to play, so I don’t blame it on that, they were ready to play too. I enjoyed watching them play more than I enjoyed watching us play.”

Harris’ layup extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 40-30, but Michigan State later used a big run, trimming the deficit to 43-42 with 13 1/2 minutes left. Gonzaga again built a seven-point lead at 56-49, but couldn’t hold it.

Michigan State has an all-time record of 82-24 in games played in the month of November. This includes a 58-3 mark at home. The last team to beat MSU at home in November was a David Robinson-led Navy squad that bested the Spartans, 91-90, in overtime on Nov. 29, 1986. Izzo is 36-0 all-time at home in November. He has 338 wins, two shy of Jud Heathcote’s first-place mark at the school…Matt Bouldin scored 15 and Gray had 13 for Gonzaga…Green grabbed 10 rebounds.

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/events/49935/recap/72595