Keyontae Johnson threw down an alley-oop dunk with 25 seconds left as No. 13 Kansas State defended its home court and defeated No. 2 Kansas 83-82 in overtime Tuesday night in Manhattan, Kan. The Jayhawks had won seven straight and 15 of the last 16 in the series.
Kansas State (16-2, 5-1 Big 12) was led by Johnson and Desi Sills with 24 points each. Nae’Qwan Tomlin added 15. Markquis Nowell was held to a season-low four points, but he had seven assists, including one very important one to Johnson for the game-winner.
Kansas (16-2, 5-1) was led by Jalen Wilson, who scored a career-high 38 points, including eight in overtime. K.J. Adams had 17 and Gradey Dick added 16.
Wilson’s two free throws with 1:18 left put Kansas up two, and Johnson trimmed it to 82-81 with one of his own with 1:06 left. After Wilson missed a 3-point attempt and Kansas State’s Cam Cater grabbed the rebound and the Wildcats called timeout, Nowell found Johnson for the winning alley-oop dunk.
No. 1 Houston 80, Tulane 60
Marcus Sasser scored 23 points as the Cougars won their ninth game in a row and held on to sole possession of first place in the American Athletic Conference by defeating the Green Wave in New Orleans.
Sasser made seven of 12 3-pointers, J’Wan Roberts scored 15 points, Jamal Shead added 14 points and seven assists and Tramon Mark scored 12 points for the Cougars (18-1, 6-0 AAC). Jaylen Forbes scored 23 points, Jalen Cook had 15 and Kevin Cross added 12 to lead the Green Wave (12-6, 5-2), who had won five straight.
Forbes made a free throw for Tulane’s first point of the half and Cook’s jumper produced their first field goal. The Cougars rebuilt the lead to 15 twice before Forbes scored eight points and Cook converted a three-point play to get Tulane within 54-49 midway through the half. Houston scored seven straight points for a 12-point lead and stayed in control the rest of the way.
No. 4 Alabama 78, Vanderbilt 66
Brandon Miller poured in 30 points and the Crimson Tide used a stout defensive effort to pick up a win over the Commodores in Nashville, Tenn.
Miller connected on 10 of 16 shots while hauling in 10 rebounds for the Crimson Tide (16-2, 6-0 Southeastern Conference). Jaden Bradley and Noah Gurley each added 12 points as Alabama won its seventh game in a row.
Tyrin Lawrence led Vanderbilt (9-9, 2-3) with 20 points and Jordan Wright added 15. The Commodores were without Liam Robbins, who averages a team-high 13.2 points per game.
No. 12 Iowa State 78, No. 7 Texas 67
Jaren Holmes poured in 21 points and Caleb Grill added 17 as the Cyclones clamped down on defense over the final 13 minutes on the way to a victory over the Longhorns in a Big 12 Conference dustup in Ames, Iowa.
Iowa State (14-3, 5-1 Big 12) rebounded from a two-point loss at Kansas on Saturday and won for the seventh time in its past eight games, moving into a three-way tie with Kansas and Kansas State for first place in the conference.
Gabe Kalscheur scored 16 for the Cyclones and Osun Osunniyi had 11 in the win. Christian Bishop led the Longhorns with 12 points, with Marcus Carr scoring 11, and Tyrese Hunter and Dylan Disu scoring 10 each for Texas (15-3, 4-2), whose three-game winning streak was snapped.
No. 9 Tennessee 70, Mississippi State 59
Zakai Zeigler scored 24 points and played all 40 minutes in his third start of the season as the Volunteers shook off the absence of two starting guards to earn a victory over the host Bulldogs at Starkville, Miss.
Julian Phillips added 18 points with 11 rebounds and Josiah-Jordan James had 13 points for the Volunteers (15-3, 5-1 SEC), who were without leading scorer Santiago Vescovi (shoulder) and Tyreke Key (illness). Vescovi, who has averaged 12.9 points per game, came away with his injury during Saturday’s 63-56 loss to Kentucky.
Shakeel Moore scored 20 points for the Bulldogs (12-6, 1-5), who lost to Tennessee for the second time in two weeks. Tolu Smith scored 11 points with 10 rebounds as Mississippi State also lost at home for the second time this season.
Wake Forest 87, No. 19 Clemson 77
Tyree Appleby scored 24 points as the host Demon Deacons notched their second win of the season over a ranked opponent, topping the Tigers in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Appleby shot 6 of 14 from the floor and had seven assists, five steals and three rebounds for the Demon Deacons (14-5, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their fourth straight game and avenged a 20-point loss at Clemson in December. Clemson (15-4, 7-1 ACC) saw its seven-game winning streak snapped and suffered its first loss in conference play. PJ Hall led the Tigers with 22 points while Hunter Tyson added 19 points and 14 rebounds.
Clemson shot 46.7 percent from the floor in the second half, but the hole the Tigers were in proved to be too deep from which to climb. Not even a 7-0 second-half run could help Clemson. In the second half, the Tigers never got closer than six points.
No. 21 Baylor 81, Texas Tech 74
Keyonte George scored 18 of his 27 points in the second half to lead the Bears to a victory over the Red Raiders in Lubbock, Texas.
LJ Cryer added 18 points and was 4-for-4 from 3-point range as Baylor (13-5, 3-3 Big 12) won its third consecutive game. The Bears’ Jalen Bridges tallied 14 points, all in the first half.
Jaylon Tyson scored a career-high 19 points and collected 12 rebounds for Texas Tech (10-8, 0-6), which has lost six straight games for the first time since having two six-game skids during the 2014-15 season.
–Field Level Media
