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Author: Dave Riggert

Missouri bounces back and defeats Texas Tech

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It was far from a triumphant homecoming for No. 2 Missouri.

Still, coach Frank Haith concentrated on the bottom line after a shaky 63-50 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday that didn’t quite flush away all the sour taste from an upset loss at Oklahoma State three days earlier.

Against a team that’s winless in the Big 12, Missouri needed a shutdown finish.

“We’re a good shooting ballclub, we just didn’t make shots,” Haith said. “We had a lot of great looks. Does that make the game look ugly? But, we won.”

Kim English scored 19 points in the first half, Marcus Denmon had 13 after the break and Phil Pressey matched his career best with 12 assists, giving Missouri just enough to avoid another stumble.

Texas Tech concentrated on shutting down Ricardo Ratliffe, Missouri’s lone inside threat who was coming off a pair of big games in which he totaled 52 points and 20 rebounds. Ratliffe was held to eight points and four rebounds and Missouri’s four-guard attack didn’t make the Red Raiders pay enough, shooting 39 percent.

“It was kind of like a great test,” English said. “If you can’t execute, you still have to get stops.”

In the second half, Missouri went more than 7 minutes between baskets. Denmon helped compensate by going 10 for 10 from the free throw line.

“I think Texas Tech did a good job inside and I think if we made shots in the first half it would seem like we played a little bit better,” Denmon said. “But good teams find a way to win, and that’s what we did.”

Jaye Crockett had 11 points and 11 rebounds and Ty Nurse scored 13 for Texas Tech (7-13, 0-8 Big 12), which shaved a 15-point deficit to seven on Clark Lammert’s 3-pointer off the glass at the shot-clock buzzer with 2:36 to go.

Missouri (19-2, 6-2) finished with six straight points, including Ratliffe’s dunk in transition with a minute left. Ratliffe started it with a blocked shot, then hustled to the other end as English saved the ball from going out of bounds.

English had 22 points and Denmon added 19 despite 4-for-15 shooting.

Missouri remained unbeaten at home, three days after an upset loss at Oklahoma State ensured a short stay at No. 2 in the rankings. The Tigers’ first 11 home victories had been by an average of 27 points.

Keeping it close was small consolation for Texas Tech.

“We have to do something about getting beat all the time,” coach Billy Gillespie said. “I don’t like it at all.”

Freshman Jordan Tolbert, the Red Raiders’ leading scorer and rebounder, had four points, four rebounds and eight turnovers in 16 minutes while saddled by foul problems. Tolbert played just 2 minutes in the second half.

“He got pushed around a little bit and didn’t respond nearly as well as he needs to,” Gillespie said. “But that’s part of the education process for a freshman, especially when we don’t have a whole lot other than him to help him inside to beat up on someone physically.”

English and Pressey had impressive totals at the half — English with four 3-pointers and Pressey a heavy contributor without taking a shot, racking up seven assists and three steals.

English hit a pair of 3s in the first 90 seconds to fuel a 10-0 opening run, but Missouri missed nine of its next 11 shots as Texas Tech rallied to tie it at 14. English scored nine points in the final 6 minutes, helping build an 11-point cushion before the Red Raiders closed the gap to seven at the break.

Tolbert picked up his third and fourth fouls in the first 1:39 of the second half, the latter a flagrant foul. Denmon hit a pair from the stripe to put Missouri up 35-24.

Heralded national football recruit Dorial Green-Beckham got a huge ovation when he arrived courtside just before game time, escorted by Missouri assistant coach Andy Hill. Fans later chanted “MIZ-DGB!” and Green-Beckham, a wide receiver from Springfield, watched the game from behind the Missouri bench.

English pretended that he hadn’t noticed, saying “What? What was going on? DGB?” but then added, “I hope he comes here.”

The wooing continued when most of the football team was introduced during a break in the first half along with a recitation of the school’s accomplishments under coach Gary Pinkel. Green-Beckham got a standing ovation on his way off the court, stopping to pose for a picture with Truman the Tiger, the school mascot.

— Associated Press —

Western women come up short against No. 14 Lady Blues

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Despite Brittany Griswold (9.5 ppg), Ashleigh Curry (20.3 ppg) and Charlonda Bozeman (2.8 ppg) sitting in street clothes, the Western women gave No. 14 Washburn all it wanted Saturday (Jan. 28) at the MWSU Fieldhouse. Unfortunately for the Griffons, (5-13, 3-10) it wasn’t enough, dropping its fifth straight, 60-55 to the LADY Blues (18-3, 11-1).

Jessica Koch paced the Griffons with 21 points and nine rebounds. Koch led all scorers and extended her double-digit scoring streak to 28 games. Alicia Bell added 13 on seven of 13 with five rebounds. Abby Stone shipped in 12 for the Griffs.

Western shot 38 percent from the field and was 68.4 percent from the free throw line. The Lady Blues outrebounded the Griffons, 46-31. Western forced 18 Washburn turnovers, to 12 for the home team. Ebonie Williams finished with 19 points, to lead Washburn and Stevi Shultz finished with 16, after scoring 14 in the first half.

Western went to the half down 28-24 after shooting 30.8 percent from the field in the first frame. Koch had nine points and six first half rebounds. Bell chipped in seven points in the first frame on four of five shooting from the field. The Lady Blues went to the halftime locker room having shot 32.3 percent from the field.

The women will host Fort Hays (15-5, 7-5) Monday, Jan. 30 at the fieldhouse at 5:30 p.m.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Northwest women lose fourth straight as they fall to Fort Hays

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The Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball could not overcome a cold night from the field as Fort Hays State took a 65-42 win over the Bearcats Saturday afternoon in front of a regional TV audience.

The Bearcats were held to 42 points for the second time this season; the first was an early November trip to Northeastern State (Okla.) in the second game of the season, the same opponent for Northwest next Wednesday. Northwest fell to 4-16 on the year and 2-11 in league play as the Lady Tigers improved to 15-5 overall and 7-5 in the conference.

FHSU took a 12-2 run in the middle of the first to pull out to a 22-8 lead.

Playing a slew of reserves through the first half, the Bearcats were able to chip away at the Lady Tigers lead and trail by 10, 33-23, at the half.

However, the second half was even less generous to the Bearcats as they shot a meager 20 percent from the field. Northwest was also only able to connect on 3-of-12 from behind the three-point arc, while Fort Hays State knocked down 10 three-pointers on the afternoon.

Northwest was led by Ashley Thayer with 11 points. Thayer also knocked down all three treys for the Bearcats.

The Lady Tigers placed five players in double figures, led by Kate Lehman and Kimber Weiser with 12 points each. Lehman was also one of two Lady Tigers to record a double-double adding 10 rebounds while Katelyn Edwards tallied 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Northwest hosts 8th-ranked Northeastern State in a non-conference match up at Bearcat Arena on Wednesday. Tip from Maryville is set for 6 p.m.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Benedictine women rally past Evangel

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The Raven women’s basketball team overcame a slow start Saturday afternoon against Evangel University to earn a comeback win, 60-59.

Benedictine (12-9, 7-3 HAAC) trailed Evangel (7-12, 5-5 HAAC) most of the game and got a big free throw from guard Kelsey Wolfe (Sr., DeKalb, Mo.) to break the game’s seventh tie in the games final seconds.

A last-second 3-point attempt by the Crusaders missed long and gave Benedictine the one-point win.

Evangel started out the game on a 9-0 run and lead by 10 points over Benedictine by the midpoint of the first half.

Benedictine trailed by as much as 13 points before Wolfe found her range from arc.

Wolfe knocked in four 3-pointers to erase the Ravens deficit and pulled Benedictine back within a possession with just under three minutes left in the half.

A pair of free throws from center Liz Stinson (Jr., Stilwell) pulled Benedictine within one point before Wolfe scored gave the Ravens their first lead of the game at 27-25 with just over one minute left in the half.

By halftime the lead traded hands twice with Evangel taking a two-point lead into the break.

The first two minutes of the second half saw the games third and fourth ties before Evangel was able to pull ahead by six points.

Benedictine continued to chip away at Evangel but couldn’t pull within more than a possession until the four-minute, 46-second mark.

Center Teresa Ziekewicz (Sr., Wichita) hit a free throw that pulled the game to its fifth tie and then Wolfe hit a pair of free throws to give Benedictine their third lead of the game.

Evangel regained the lead minutes later only to have Benedictine answer and regain the lead on a Stinson jumper with two minutes remaining.

Evangel answered to tie the game at 59 to set up the last-second free throw by Wolfe in what proved to be the only point in the final 90 seconds of the game.

Benedictine was able to earn the win despite being outshot by Evangel. The Crusaders knocked in 51.2 percent on the day to the Ravens 38.3 percent.

The difference in the second half came at the charity stripe. Benedictine converted 11 of 19 from the free throw line while Evangel went 3 for 4.

Wolfe led all scorers with 20 points and was the only Raven to reach double figures. Guard Kesley Anselmi (Jr., Olathe) added 9 points while forward Erin Murphy (Jr., Olathe) chipped in with 8 points.

Benedictine was able to score 23 points off turnovers, 12 of which came in the second half while Evangel converted 16 points off turnovers with only five coming in the second half.

The Crusaders were paced by Emily Akins with 18 points.

Benedictine hits the road for a Feb. 4 game in Marshall, Mo. Tip-off against Missouri Valley is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be the first time the two teams have met this season.

— BC Sports Information —

No. 5 Kansas gets upset at Iowa State

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Royce White has been so bad from the free throw line lately that his struggles have literally turned into nightmares.

A few hours after waking up from a dream in which he couldn’t hit anything from the line, White sank the two biggest freebies of his career to give Iowa State a landmark win for coach Fred Hoiberg.

White had 18 points and nine rebounds as the Cyclones upset fifth-ranked Kansas 72-64 on Saturday, snapping the Jayhawks’ winning streak at 10 games.

White, the versatile big man who entered shooting an abysmal 39 percent from the line in Big 12 games, hit a pair that rattled in to put Iowa State up 64-59 with 1:47 left.

Kansas then threw the ball away and Chris Babb drained a backbreaking 3 to give the Cyclones an eight-point lead with 55.6 seconds left.

“I woke up this morning dreaming about missing free throws. So I was in the gym this morning and shot free throws trying to get it right,” White said. “Teammates keep encouraging me and telling me, ‘You can make free throws.'”

Tyshawn Taylor led five players in double figures with 16 points and 10 assists for Kansas (17-4, 7-1 Big 12), which hadn’t lost since Dec. 19 against Davidson.

Big 12 player of the year favorite Thomas Robinson had 13 points, but he committed five turnovers and the Jayhawks were outrebounded 36-23.

“I thought we got stops, but I didn’t think we cleaned up. How many times did they miss a shot and the ball go off of us and us not secure or whatever?” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Obviously, we didn’t do a good last 3 minutes defensively at all.”

Melvin Ejim had 15 points and Scott Christopherson added 14 for the Cyclones (15-6, 5-3), who had lost 13 straight to Kansas since their last victory in 2005. Iowa State students celebrated the program’s biggest win in years — and first over Kansas at home since 2004 — by storming the floor.

“It was a great win for our program. But like I told our guys, you know, you’ve got to expect to win your home games,” Hoiberg said. “I told the guys to enjoy it and get refocused.”

This was Kansas’ toughest true road test of the year so far — and it ended with the Jayhawks’ first true road loss of the season.

But Kansas caught the Cyclones napping to start the second half and took its biggest lead to that point, 45-39, thanks to an 11-0 run. Big man Anthony Booker brought Iowa State back, sinking a rare 3-pointer to put the Cyclones ahead 50-49 with 12:13 left.

Neither team could get much going over the next 6 minutes, but Tyrus McGee’s three-point play gave Iowa State a 56-53 lead with just over 6 minutes left. Robinson then blew an open dunk and White hit two layups — one a reverse he spun off the glass — to make it 60-55 Iowa State with 3:42 left.

“This was our first true road game with a good crowd, a good atmosphere. So, we’re going to be seeing that from now on,” Taylor said. “Our emphasis this week in practice is just going to be taking care of the ball and just rebound and rebound. You can’t lose on the boards like that.”

Iowa State fed off the energy of its second sellout crowd of the year and jumped on the Jayhawks early.

Booker drilled a 3 and Babb followed with a steal and layup that put Iowa State ahead 19-11, prompting Self to call timeout.

Kansas finally took a 31-29 lead on an impressive scoop through traffic from Taylor with 3:31 left before the break. Iowa State rallied to grab the halftime advantage, 37-33, despite committing 13 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

The Cyclones led in part because of their defense on Robinson. He was 1-of-6 shooting in the first half and traveled three times trying to free himself up for shots in the paint.

“Just not playing my game. Speeding up the game and not taking my time. I’m just not playing the same right now,” Robinson said.

Jeff Withey, Elijah Johnson and Travis Releford each scored 10 points for Kansas.

Kansas certainly knew what Iowa State was capable of after the Cyclones threw a scare into the Jayhawks in Lawrence two weeks ago.

Iowa State led at halftime Jan. 14 and pushed its lead to as many as 12 points before Kansas stormed back for an 82-73 win. The Cyclones might have been able to pull off that upset had they shot better than 2 of 15 from 3-point range in the second half.

Iowa State didn’t let the opportunity pass by this time around — and it now has a marquee win that will look great on its resume come March.

“It definitely feels good to beat them. We felt like we should have won the first time,” said White, who finished 6 of 11 from the line. “We knew that it was basically a must-win for us.”

— Associated Press —

K-State loses for the second time to Oklahoma

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Every once in a while, Lon Kruger has a senior moment.

The Oklahoma coach will be sitting in film study, or perhaps in practice, and draw on his experience playing and coaching at Kansas State to make a point. Only he’ll talk about his days in the Big 8, and his players will gently remind him that, no, it’s the Big 12 these days.

Yes, Kruger is back in the conference he once called home.

On Saturday night, he walked out of the building he once called home with a victory.

Steven Pledger scored 30 points and the Sooners weathered a second-half charge by the Wildcats (No. 24 ESPN/USA Today, No. 22 AP) — and some tense moments down the stretch — for a confidence-building 63-60 win.

“Pales by comparison to what it means to the players,” Kruger said of his first game at Bramlage Coliseum since 1990, when he led the Wildcats in his final game before departing for the same job at Florida. “They’re not aware where I went to school.”

Actually, Lon, they are.

“This is where he rocked out on the court,” Pledger said, “so this is great.”

The Sooners squandered a 10-point second-half advantage but still led 59-56 on a pair of free throws by Pledger with 1:07 left, setting up a tense final flurry by both teams.

Will Spradling’s slicing layup got Kansas State within a point, and Jordan Henriquez corralled a loose ball on defense with just over 10 seconds left. But Sam Grooms managed to poke it loose before it could be cleared, and Romero Osby went to the foul line.

Osby hit two free throws to restore Oklahoma’s three-point lead, and the Sooners fouled Henriquez on purpose with 5.2 seconds left. He made both fouls shots to get Kansas State within 61-60, but Grooms matched him with two free throws of his own.

Kansas State had one final chance when Rodney McGruder got loose on the perimeter, but his 3-pointer at the buzzer clanked off the rim, allowing the Sooners (13-7, 3-5 Big 12) to escape.

“I had a clean look,” McGruder said. “Just came up short.”

McGruder finished with 19 points and Angel Rodriguez had 10 for the Wildcats (15-5, 4-4), who had won three straight but saw a chance to gain ground in the Big 12 slip away.

“They made it a real physical game. We didn’t respond,” said Kansas State coach Frank Martin, whose team was 3 for 19 from beyond the arc.

Martin probably wished he had Kruger letting it fly from long range.

The native of Silver Lake, Kan., was a star for the Wildcats in the 1970s, twice earning Big 8 player of the year honors. He later returned as an assistant coach and eventually the head coach, taking over after Jack Hartman retired and leading the Wildcats to four NCAA tournaments.

“It meant a lot to me, playing for Coach, knowing that he was a big-time player,” Grooms said. “You want to win for him so he has a little bit of bragging rights.”

Kruger received a nice round of applause when he walked onto the court before the game, but all those warm and fuzzy feelings were pushed aside after the opening tip.

Rodriguez gave the Wildcats a spark in the opening minutes, scoring eight of their first 13 points and helping them take an 18-12 lead. But the Sooners quickly reeled them in and then pulled ahead when Andrew Fitzgerald scored with 3:21 left to make it 25-24.

Cameron Clark went soaring for an alley-oop dunk on Oklahoma’s next possession, and Pledger’s 3-pointer just before halftime gave the Sooners a 34-28 lead.

“It was just a matter of getting into the right spots to help my team out,” he said.

Spradling had fits trying to guard Pledger, who came in averaging 17.2 points but had 18 in the first 20 minutes alone. He consistently beat the sophomore guard off the dribble and, when McGruder switched onto him, buried an array of outside jumpers.

The lead swelled to 40-30 early in the second half.

“Pledger hit a couple big shots there,” Kruger said.

Kansas State finally mounted a comeback. Henriquez started it with a putback, Rodriguez scooped in a layup and McGruder capped it off with a jumper that knotted the game at 40.

The Wildcats pulled ahead 44-42 when Spradling was fouled by Pledger going to the basket and made both free throws. It was the fourth foul on Pledger and he took a seat on the bench with 10:55 left, but Kansas State couldn’t capitalize when he was out of the game.

He checked back in at the 6:48 mark and immediately got to the foul line, making both free throws. Pledger then buried back-to-back 3s with about 5 minutes left, giving the Sooners a 55-51 advantage and hushing a sellout crowd stuffed inside Bramlage Coliseum.

It was silent again a few minutes later, when McGruder’s open look from beyond the 3-point line at the buzzer hit the rim and fell harmlessly to the floor.

“It wasn’t always pretty, but we did some things to hang in the ballgame,” Kruger said. “I told the guys afterwards, the winning is great, but much more important, we showed a little more competitiveness, a little more fight than we have been.”

— Associated Press —

Weems leads Missouri State past Northern Iowa

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Kyle Weems had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead Missouri State past Northern Iowa 63-51 on Saturday.

Anthony Downing scored 16 points and Jarmar Gulley matched Weems with 10 rebounds for the Bears (13-10, 6-5 Missouri Valley). Michael Bizoukas had seven assists for Missouri State.

Seth Tuttle had nine points to lead Northern Iowa (14-9, 4-7), which has dropped five of its last six games. The Panthers led 9-3 before Missouri State used a 20-4 run to take control of the game.

The Bears led 34-24 at halftime — with Weems scoring 18 of his points before the break — and enjoyed their biggest margin at 57-39 with 4:52 to play.

— Associated Press —

KU releases QB Brock Berglund from scholarship

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The University of Kansas Friday granted Brock Berglund permission to contact other schools per his intent to transfer.

Quote from KU head football coach Charlie Weis:

“Today, Brock Berglund is released from his scholarship at KU to pursue other opportunities. Brock and his representatives have publicly stated their case without any public response from me to this point. Brock spent the majority of the past calendar year in Colorado taking online courses at KU’s expense, which was nearly $40,000. At no time was Brock an active participant of the football team. Once competition was recruited at the quarterback position, Brock decided he no longer wanted to be a part of the team. He was expected to show up for a mandatory team meeting on Sunday, Jan. 15, but he sent an email less than two hours before the meeting to inform us that he had decided to transfer and would not be attending the meeting. He was dismissed after following through on that promise.

Although Brock has been granted his release, I only wish that he had showed the same courtesy that other players showed and came to talk to me. He decided that he did not have to follow the same protocol as the other departing members of the football team. I believe no individual should be more important than the team. Brock did not see it that way.”

— KU Sports Information —

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