Kansas rolls on; Oklahoma escapes in OT; Oklahoma State continues tumble

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ One of the Big 12's Top 10 teams had little trouble dismissing its opponent. Another barely escaped, needing overtime to win by a point. <br><br>The third won't be a Top

Sunday, February 3rd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ One of the Big 12's Top 10 teams had little trouble dismissing its opponent. Another barely escaped, needing overtime to win by a point.

The third won't be a Top 10 team when the next rankings by The Associated Press come out Monday.

Despite promises from Colorado freshman David Harrison that ``Kansas will get theirs,'' the second-ranked Jayhawks had little problem beating the Buffaloes 100-73 on Saturday.

No. 6 Oklahoma also put down an opponent's boasts, but had a tougher time doing it. The Sooners, stung by Texas' accusations of cockiness, defeated the Longhorns 85-84 in overtime _ Texas' second one-point loss in four days.

Ninth-ranked Oklahoma State, however, never recovered from early offensive struggles and lost 70-61 to Kansas State _ the Wildcats' biggest upset victory in eight years and a momentum-builder heading into Monday night's matchup against Kansas.

Another of the Big 12's ranked teams also won on Saturday when No. 20 Texas Tech beat Iowa State 69-43.

On Sunday, Baylor beat Texas A&M 97-45 and No. 22 Missouri defeated No. 8 Virginia 81-77 at Columbia, Mo., in the weekend's only nonconference game.

Kareem Rush scored 26 points for Missouri (16-6), which handed Virginia its third straight loss and broke the Cavaliers' string of 27 consecutive nonconference regular-season victories.

Arthur Johnson scored 16 for the Tigers, who were playing a Top 10 team for the third time in four games.

Chris Williams led Virginia (14-5) with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

On Saturday at Lawrence, Kan., the Jayhawks won their 26th straight over Colorado as Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Jeff Boschee scored 20 points each. The Jayhawks (19-2, 8-0 Big 12) led 100-58 before Colorado (12-7, 3-5) ended the game with a 15-0 run against Kansas' reserves.

``We only beat them by 27? Man, I wanted to get them worse,'' said Gooden, who also had 11 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season.

Harrison, who issued his boast after Kansas' 97-85 win over Colorado on Jan. 5, was not permitted to talk to reporters after Saturday's game. He drew a technical foul late in the game, apparently for a comment to an official, but there were no other incidents.

``They beat us pretty good,'' said senior D.J. Harrison, David's brother. ``David said it. That's the way he is. He still feels the same way and I still feel the same way. I am definitely not a Kansas fan. I don't take anything away from them being a great team.''

David Harrison led Colorado with 17 points.

At Austin, Texas, Hollis Price's pull-up jumper in the lane with 19 seconds left in overtime put the Sooners ahead for good at 83-82. Jason Detrick then hit two free throws that gave Oklahoma a three-point lead.

``I knew I would have to make a big play because I hadn't scored in a long time,'' said Price, who led the Sooners (17-3, 6-2) with 25 points. ``We're finding our groove back. We probably needed a game like this to find out where our toughness is. We didn't expect those guys to play as hard as they did.''

Texas (14-7, 5-3) rallied from a 17-point deficit with just over six minutes left to tie it at 74 on Brandon Mouton's catch-and-shoot 3-pointer on an inbounds pass with under a second left in regulation.

Mouton led Texas with a career-high 26 points.

Larry Reid led Kansas State's Wildcats with 18 points and seven assists in their upset victory at Manhattan, Kan.

``It's a marquee win for these kids,'' said Kansas State coach Jim Wooldridge, whose team hadn't beaten a Top 10 opponent since an upset of then-No. 1 Kansas in 1994. ``We beat a great team.''

The Cowboys (17-5, 4-5) didn't play like a great team, though. They went 1-for-10 from the field in the first seven minutes, and 9-for-28 (32 percent) for the half. Kansas State (9-10, 3-5) led by 15 at the break and never saw its lead go below nine points in the second half.

``It's a mystery to me,'' said Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, whose team lost 58-53 to Oklahoma on Wednesday. ``We've tried everything. We started with special plays and didn't make them, and Kansas State did an excellent job of scoring at the start.''

Maurice Baker hit four 3-pointers and led Oklahoma State with 16 points.

At Lubbock, Texas, Texas Tech also struggled offensively (9-for-27) in the first half, but held Iowa State to its lowest point total since a 54-38 loss to Oklahoma State 40 years ago.

``We just got whupped for sure,'' Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy said. ``That was the best defense we've seen all year.''

The Red Raiders (16-4, 5-3) hit 11 of their first 12 shots over the opening nine minutes of the second half. The Cyclones (9-14, 1-8) shot just 24.2 percent from the field (15-of-62).

``When you miss a shot, the defense has something to do with it,'' Texas Tech coach Bob Knight said. ``They make you adjust a little bit, you don't have the right follow-through, you don't have the right whatever.''

Kasib Powell led Texas Tech with 22 points.

Tyray Pearson had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Iowa State.

And on Sunday at Waco, Texas, Lawrence Roberts scored 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as Baylor handed the Aggies their second-worst loss in school history.

Wendell Greenleaf added 18 points for Baylor (13-8, 3-5).

Leading 43-28 at halftime, Baylor outscored the Aggies 36-7 in the first 11 minutes of the second half.

Bernard King led Texas A&M (9-13, 3-5) with 18 points.