KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ben McLemore scored 21 points, Travis Releford added 20 and No. 10 Kansas held off repeated Oregon State rallies to beat the Beavers 84-78 on Friday night.
The Jayhawks (6-1) built an early 14-point lead only to see Oregon State tie the score at 37-all. Then, after Kansas pulled away for a 63-50 advantage early in the second half, Ahmad Starks led a 9-1 run to cut the deficit to 64-61.
Starks, who had 25 points, made a long 3-pointer at the 1:26 mark that shaved Kansas’ lead to 78-73. Then with 56 seconds to go, Releford made two free throws and Jeff Withey rebounded after Starks missed from 3-point range.
Roberto Nelson sank two free throws for Oregon State (4-2) and Starks fed Devon Collier inside for a dunk that gave the Jayhawks an 80-77 lead. With 13.9 seconds left, McLemore calmly sank two free throws and with 8.5 ticks remaining, Kevin Young batted an Oregon State shot into the seats.
Withey, who had a triple-double in Kansas’ previous game, had 17 points, five rebounds and three blocks for the Jayhawks. Nelson had 17 points for Oregon State.
Georgetown 37, Tennessee 36: Georgetown and Tennessee held each other scoreless over the final four minutes, and the No. 20 Hoyas beat the Volunteers 3 in a display of abysmal shooting Friday night in the SEC/Big East Challenge.
On a night when the “challenge” part of the event was the task of simply putting the ball in the basket, the teams combined to make just 7 of 20 shots — from the free throw line. The field-goal shooting was just as horrid, with the Vols hitting 33 percent and the Hoyas 36 percent.
No. 6 Syracuse 91, Arkanas 82: James Southerland scored a career-high 35 points to lead No. 6 Syracuse.
Southerland, who was also a career-best 9 for 13 on 3-pointers, heloed the Orange (5-0) win in their first visit to Bud Walton Arena. The senior bested his former career mark of 22 points, set against Princeton earlier this season, and five 3s, which he had as a freshman against Robert Morris.
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