CBKB TOP 25: Duke beats K-State for CBE Classic title

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Freshman guard Kyrie Irving and senior guard Nolan Smith both had 17 points and led No. 1 Duke's outstanding defensive effort on Kansas State's Jacob Pullen as the Blue Devils beat the fourth-ranked Wildcats 82-68 on Tuesday night to win the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.

Duke (5-0) made sure the sellout crowd of 18,696 at the Sprint Center, most wearing something purple, was never a factor, taking the lead for good 7 1/2 minutes into the game and then going on to lead by 17 points midway through the second half on the way to their 15th straight win.

The win was No. 800 at Duke for Mike Krzyzewski, making him the fifth coach to reach that figure at one school. His overall win total is 873, three behind Adolph Rupp for third place on the career list.

And it was another November win for Duke. The Blue Devils have won 27 straight games in the 11th month of the year and under Krzyzewski they are 107-10 in November.

This was the fourth straight year Duke won an inseason tournament and the Blue Devils won the one that comes after the season last April, their fourth national title under Krzyzewski.

Kyle Singler and Andre Dawkins both had 11 points for Duke, while Mason Plumlee added 10

Curtis Kelly led the Wildcats (4-1) with 19 points, while Pullen, the preseason All-American who led Kansas State's run to the Elite Eight last season and made wearing a beard at a college basketball game fashionable, finished with four points on 1-for-12 shooting, including 1 of 8 from 3-point range.

Connecticut 70, No. 2 Michigan St. 67

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) - Kemba Walker scored 30 points and hit a key jumper with less than a minute left, helping the Huskies outlast the Spartans in a physical Maui Invitational semifinal.

Connecticut (4-0) fought the Spartans for every inch every minute, refusing to be pushed around by a team projected to be a national title contender. The Huskies made it interesting by missing five late free throws, but survived Draymond Green's midcourt heave at the buzzer.

Walker hit a fallaway jumper with 52 seconds left and Alex Oriakhi dominated inside for 15 points and 17 rebounds, sending UConn into the championship game against No. 8 Kentucky.

Michigan State (3-1) had three chances to tie in the final 20 seconds, but Green missed two free throws, Kalin Lucas threw a pass to no one and Green was just short on his desperation shot.

Green finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and blocked three shots, but will be kicking himself for missing two free throws with 20 seconds left.

No. 3 Ohio St. 64, Morehead St. 45

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Jon Diebler scored 20 points and David Lighty added 11 to lead the Buckeyes past the Eagles to win the Global Sports Invitational.

The Buckeyes (4-0) were without one of their top shooters, junior swingman William Buford, who was held out of the game because of back pain.

Foul trouble and cold shooting kept Ohio State from pulling away until late in the game.

Freshman Deshaun Thomas scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half for the Buckeyes.

Kenneth Faried, battling foul trouble most of the night, had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Ty Proffitt added 12 points for the Eagles (2-3), who had battled on even terms at No. 16 Florida before falling 61-55 on Sunday.

Freshman point guard Aaron Craft started in place of Buford, who was held out as a precautionary measure after suffering from back spasms in the Buckeyes' last game, a 40-point win over UNC-Wilmington. The junior is expected to be back on Friday when the Buckeyes play Miami (Ohio).

No. 5 Pittsburgh 74, Robert Morris 53

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Ashton Gibbs scored 20 points and the Panthers pulled away from the Colonials.

Brad Wanamaker scored 17 points and Gary McGhee had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Panthers (6-0), who are 29-0 against their suburban Pittsburgh rival. Gilbert Brown added 11 points and keyed a late 14-2 run with a soaring, one-handed dunk.

Russell Johnson scored 15 points for Robert Morris (2-2), which shot only 30.9 percent without leading scorer Karon Abraham. He was held out for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.

Abraham's absence was a major setback for a team that shot only 35.6 percent in its first three games, then made only 21 of 68 shots against Pitt. Abraham averages 14 points and had 16 points during a 77-53 loss to Pitt last season.

No. 6 Kansas 82, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 41

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - Thomas Robinson had 15 points and Marcus Morris added 12, leading the Jayhawks past the Islanders and setting a team record with their 63rd consecutive home victory.

The six-time defending Big 12 champions (4-0) have not lost in Allen Fieldhouse since February 2007. Their 63-game streak broke the record of 62 straight home wins set between 1994-98.

Mario Little and Travis Releford each had 11 points for the Jayhawks, who are 117-6 in their 55-year-old fieldhouse in Bill Self's seven-plus seasons as head coach.

The Islanders (1-4), playing their fifth game in 11 days, confused the Jayhawks with a zone defense and slowdown offense for the first few minutes.

No. 8 Kentucky 74, No. 13 Washington 67

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) - Terrence Jones had 16 points and 17 rebounds, and Brandon Knight scored 24 points to help the Wildcats hold off the Huskies in the Maui Invitational semifinals.

A 4.7 earthquake centered on the Big Island shook courtside tables and chairs with about 6 minutes left, but play continued and few people in the gym seemed to notice. They were too busy watching the back-and-forth action.

Kentucky (4-0) had an abysmal night from 3-point range - 3-for-17 - but smothered Washington on the perimeter defensively and came up with all the big plays down the stretch. The Wildcats move on to the championship game against Connecticut, which knocked off No. 2 Michigan State in a rough-and-tumble first semifinal.

Jones, who spurned Washington for Kentucky, overcame a rough shooting night (4 for 13) with hard work, scrapping for rebounds and blocking four shots.

Isaiah Thomas had 13 points on 3-of-11 shooting and Justin Holiday added 11 for Washington (3-1), which shot 38 percent and was 3 for 13 on 3-pointers after hitting 17 the night before.

No. 10 Purdue 87, Austin Peay 65

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - JaJuan Johnson had 21 points and 11 rebounds to help the Boilermakers beat the Governors.

E'Twaun Moore had 17 points, six rebounds and four steals, Ryne Smith scored 11 points and D.J. Byrd added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Boilermakers (4-0). Lewis Jackson did not attempt a field goal, but he had nine assists despite playing with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder. Freshman guard Terone Johnson had seven points and three assists in his first career start.

Purdue could have won by a larger margin, but the Boilermakers made just 14 of 24 free throws.

Tyshwan Edmondson scored 16 points and John Fraley added 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Governors (2-3). Austin Peay shot 51 percent from the field, but Purdue scored 18 points off the Governors' 18 turnovers.

No. 11 Missouri 72, Wyoming 62

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) - Michael Dixon scored a career-high 17 points to help the Tigers beat the Cowboys in the semifinals of the Cancun Challenge.

Missouri saw its 15-point halftime lead cut to 59-57 with just under 4 minutes left when Dixon came up with a loose ball. The Tigers swung it around to Marcus Denmon, who made a 3-pointer that snapped a near 4-minute scoring drought.

The Cowboys (2-3) never got closer than four points the rest of the way.

Missouri advances to play the La Salle in Wednesday's championship game. The Explorers knocked off Providence 84-73 in Tuesday's other semifinal.

Laurence Bowers had a pair of tip-ins in the final 3 1/2 minutes for the last of his 12 points. He also had seven rebounds.

The Tigers (3-0) sealed the win hitting four three throws in the final 20 seconds, including two by Dixon after Arthur Bouedo was whistled for an intentional foul.

No. 14 Memphis 102, Tennessee-Martin 80

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Will Coleman and Will Barton each scored 20 points to lead the Tigers over the Skyhawks.

Joe Jackson added 16 points, Angel Garcia scored 15 and Wesley Witherspoon had 14 to lead a balanced offense for the Tigers (5-0). Rueben Clayton led the Skyhawks (2-3) with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Getting 38 points from their bench, scoring 25 points off turnovers and shooting 61.1 percent, the Tigers built a 63-43 halftime lead. Three reserves - Coleman, Garcia and Barton - were in double figures at halftime, led by Garcia and Barton with 12 apiece.

No. 16 Florida 79, Florida Atlantic 66

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Kenny Boynton scored 21 points, Alex Tyus added 19 and the Gators beat the Owls.

Erving Walker added 14 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Gators (4-1), who showed some fatigue while playing for the fourth time in eight days.

Florida struggled early against the Owls (3-3), allowing them to shoot nearly 50 percent from the floor in the first half and giving up way too many easy baskets. The Gators, meanwhile, missed free throws and failed to make the most of their height and depth advantage.

No. 19 Illinois 73, Yale 47

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - D.J. Richardson scored 16 points to lead the Illini past the Bulldogs.

Demetri McCamey added 11 for the Illini (5-1) and Mike Tisdale had 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Illinois led 30-17 at the half, but needed Richardson's second-half shooting to put the Bulldogs away. Richardson was 6 for 8 from the field and 3 for 4 from the 3-point line.

Greg Mangano led Yale (1-3) with 14 points. Austin Morgan added 12.

No. 20 Texas 84, Sam Houston State 50

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Jordan Hamilton scored 25 points and the Longhorns gave coach Rick Barnes career victory No. 500.

Longhorns senior point guard Dogus Balbay added a career-high 14 points on and unusual scoring night for him.

Texas (4-1) played its first game as a ranked team this season. The Longhorns rose to No. 1 for the first time in school history last January before falling out of the rankings just six weeks later.

Barnes is 500-250 in 24 seasons as a head coach, with 298 wins in 13 years at Texas. He is just the 12th active major college coach to reach No. 500.

Antuan Bootle scored 16 points for Sam Houston State (2-1).

No. 22 Gonzaga 66, Marquette 63

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Steven Gray scored 20 points and the Bulldogs stopped a rare two-game losing streak with a victory over the Golden Eagles in the third-place game of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.

The Bulldogs (3-2) lost to then-No. 25 San Diego State 79-76 last week and to No. 4 Kansas State 81-64 in the semifinals on Monday, a rare losing blowout.

Elias Harris had 19 points and reserve Mangisto Arop had 15, 10 in the second half when he kept the Bulldogs in front as Marquette (4-2) kept chipping away at an 11-point second-half deficit.

Jimmy Butler, who finished with 22 points, had a chance to tie the game but his long 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded was well off the mark and the Golden Eagles had their second straight loss after losing 82-77 to No. 1 Duke in the semifinals.

No. 23 BYU 86, Mississippi Valley State 36

PROVO, Utah (AP) - Jimmer Fredette scored 16 points and Jackson Emery added 15 to help the Cougars cruise over the winless Delta Devils in the second game of the South Padre Island Invitational.

BYU (4-0) led 37-10 at halftime, matching the Cougars' all-time record for fewest points allowed in the first half.

For a while, this game was actually close as both teams struggled early. Through the first eight minutes, BYU and Mississippi Valley State were a combined 4 of 20 with 13 turnovers. The Cougars led just 6-5 and 12-7 before Fredette hit his first 3-pointer.

From there, BYU never looked back as the Delta Devils (0-4) shot just 25 percent overall and committed 25 turnovers.

No. 25 North Carolina 80, UNC Asheville 69

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - Tyler Zeller scored a career-high 23 points and the Tar Heels blew most of a 22-point, second-half lead before beating the Bulldogs.

Freshman Harrison Barnes added 13 points for the Tar Heels (3-2), who regrouped after losing two straight games during the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. But on what appeared to be an easy night, North Carolina couldn't put away the Bulldogs (2-2) and instead found itself protecting a six-point lead with 4 minutes to play.

The Tar Heels held on to improve to 7-0 in the series against the instate program from the Big South Conference. But this couldn't have been a confidence-builder for a young team that struggled in back-to-back losses to Minnesota and Vanderbilt in Puerto Rico.

Zeller provided some good news by setting his career high in scoring for the second straight game.