Oral Roberts 78, Kansas 71

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Marchello Vealy hit his first seven 3-point shots and Oral Roberts stunned No. 3 Kansas 78-71 Wednesday night.<br/><br/>Vealy, only 1-for-13 in 3-pointers last year as a freshman,

Wednesday, November 15th 2006, 9:48 pm

By: News On 6

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Marchello Vealy hit his first seven 3-point shots and Oral Roberts stunned No. 3 Kansas 78-71 Wednesday night.

Vealy, only 1-for-13 in 3-pointers last year as a freshman, was 7-for-8 from behind the arc and finished with 22 points.

Caleb Green added 20 points for the Golden Eagles (1-1), who outplayed the heavily favored Jayhawks from start to finish.

Kansas (1-1) cut its deficit to 72-69 on Russell Robinson's free throw with one minute left.

But Ken Tutt made Oral Roberts' 11th 3-pointer for a 75-69 lead and added two free throws with 25 seconds to go. Tutt and Adam Liberty each had 12 points for the two-time defending champions of the Mid-Continent Conference.

Kansas trailed by as many as eight points in the second half and never got closer than three. The Golden Eagles looked every bit as quick as the Big 12 favorites and played a tenacious defense, keeping Kansas off balance all night in an arena where it usually dominates.

The Jayhawks fell to 165-11 in Allen Fieldhouse since 1994-95.

Kansas got 22 points from freshman Darrell Arthur, but was only 11-for-21 from the line and missed easy shots all night long.

Julian Wright, a preseason favorite for Big 12 player of the year, blew layups on two consecutive possessions as Kansas tried vainly to regain the lead in the second half.

Bearing little resemblance to the crisp outfit that routed Northern Arizona 91-57 in their season opener last week, the Jayhawks missed 11 of their first 17 shots and had 10 turnovers.

When Robinson missed a finger roll layup and Vealy converted his third straight 3-pointer, the Golden Eagles took their first 10-point lead at 28-18.

Brandon Rush scored eight of Kansas' last 10 points with a free throw, a tip-in, a long 3-pointer and a short jumper to help close the halftime margin to 39-34.

In the final minutes, Darnell Jackson, playing for the injured Sasha Kaun, grabbed two offensive rebounds and scored both times, slicing Kansas' deficit to 71-68 with 1:17 left.

Rush had 14 points, Mario Chalmers 13 and Jackson 10 for Kansas.

In a take-charge surge in the first half, Vealy hit five 3-pointers in a row as the Golden Eagles silenced the sellout crowd with a 14-2 run.