STILLWATER, Okla. - Phil Forte scored 20 points and Oklahoma State looked sharp after a nine-day break, beating Robert Morris 92-66 on Monday night.
Markel Brown added 18 points for Oklahoma State (12-1) in the Cowboys’ final tuneup before opening Big 12 Conference play on Saturday at Kansas State. Oklahoma State will enter 2014 with its highest ranking in The Associated Press poll since February 2005, when the Cowboys were also No. 6.
The Cowboys never trailed against Robert Morris (5-9), which posted a memorable victory over Kentucky in the first round of last season’s NIT.
NO. 9 BAYLOR 81, ORAL ROBERTS 55
WACO, Texas - Taurean Prince scored 10 of his 16 points in the go-ahead run for Baylor as the Bears overcame a slow start to beat Oral Roberts.
Baylor (11-1) fell behind 7-0 while missing its first six shots before finally scoring nearly 6 minutes into the game.
Prince made a free throw with 11:31 left in the first half to tie the game at 11-11. That also started a 13-2 spurt over nearly 5½ minutes as the Bears went ahead to stay.
Shawn Glover had 22 points to lead Oral Roberts (6-7), which has lost four of five games.
NO. 16 KANSAS 93, TOLEDO 83
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Perry Ellis had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Naadir Tharpe added a career-high 20 points and Kansas beat Toledo for the Rockets’ first loss of the season.
Andrew Wiggins also had 20 points and fellow freshman Joel Embiid had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Jayhawks (9-3), who built a 16-point lead early in the second half.
Toledo (12-1) made one final charge, using some hot outside shooting and sloppiness on the part of Kansas to get within 81-73 on a three-pointer by Julius Brown with 3:23 left in the game.
Tharpe answered moments later with a free throw and then a driving layup off a miss, and Kansas finally put the game away when Frank Mason fed Wiggins on a runout for an easy dunk that gave the Jayhawks an 88-76 lead with less than 2:00 remaining. NO. 24 GONZAGA 69, SAN FRANCISCO 41
SPOKANE, Wash. - Drew Barham scored 15 points,all on three-pointers, as short-handed Gonzaga beat San Francisco.
Przemek Karnowski added 11 points for Gonzaga (12-2, 2-0 West Coast), whose top three scorers are battling injuries. David Stockton and Kevin Pangos each finished with 10 points.
Avry Holmes ledcold-shooting San Francisco (8-6, 1-1) with 16 points. The Dons made just 25.5 percent of their shots, to 43 percent for the Zags.
Gonzaga has won 20 consecutive conference games spanning three seasons.
Gonzaga played without starting guard Gary Bell Jr., who has a broken hand, and starting forward Sam Dower, who has an injured back. Bell, the third-leading scorer at 12 points per game, will miss the next four to six weeks.
Dower, who fell hard on his back against Kansas State, is being evaluated on a day-to-day basis. He is averaging 13.8 points per game.
SEC/TOP 25 WOMEN NO. 16 LSU 72, JACKSON STATE 45
BATON ROUGE - Jeanne Kenney made 6 of 7 three-point attempts as LSU dominated Jackson State.
Kenney tied her career-high with 22 points. Raigyne Moncrief had 13 points and Theresa Plaisance added 10 for LSU (10-2).
LSU took an early lead but Jackson State (2-8) came back to tie the game at 12-12 on a layup by Ekwara Ndongo at the 11:03 mark. LSU held a 33-24 lead at the half.
Sports, Pages 17 on 12/31/2013