Kansas overcomes Durant, Texas to win Big 12 title

Mar 11, 2007, 23:15 GMT

Oklahoma City, OK - Sherron Collins scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds, and the second-ranked Kansas Jayhawks overcame a Herculean effort by Kevin Durant to top the 15th-ranked Texas Longhorns in overtime, 88-84, and win their second straight Big 12 Tournament title.

Durant finished with 37 points and 10 rebounds for Texas (24-9), and A.J. Abrams added 19 points. Damion James had nine points and 14 rebounds for Texas.

Julian Wright finished with 19 points and eight boards for the Jayhawks (30-4), and Brandon Rush scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Mario Chalmers added 17 points for Kansas, which overcame a 22-point deficit.

After the contest, Kansas was given the No. 1 seed in the West region of the NCAA Tournament with a first-round game against either Florida A&M or Niagara on Friday in Chicago.

'Our confidence level is pretty high right now,' Rush said. 'Just making big plays at the right time. That's all I can say.'

The Longhorns are seeded fourth in the East and have a first-round encounter against New Mexico State on Friday in Spokane.

'It is the bigger picture,' Durant said of the upcoming tournament. 'It is a bigger week next week. We just got to bounce back off this loss and get ready for the tournament.'

Russell Robinson came through in the extra session for the Jayhawks, hitting a layup to put Kansas up 83-81 with 2:20 left and then, after an Abrams three pulled the Longhorns to within 88-86 with 8.3 seconds left, making two clutch free throws to ice the win.

Chalmers drilled a three to tie the game at 79 with 15 seconds left. Durant had an opportunity to win it, but missed a fadeaway jumper, and Rush launched a desperation heave that rimmed off short, sending the game to overtime.

Texas pushed their lead out to 51-42 early in the second half on two Durant free throws, but Kansas answered with seven straight, pulling to within 51-49 on a Wright layup at the 14:03 mark. After a Durant layup pushed the Longhorns to a 60-56 lead, Kansas scored nine straight, taking a 65-60 lead on a Chalmers jumper with 6:06 left.

The Jayhawks could not pull away, though, and five straight points from Durant tied the game at 71 with 2:27 left. Texas pulled back into the lead, and an Abrams three put the Longhorns ahead 78-74 with 1:06 left. After a Collins jumper and one free throw by Craig Winder, Kansas faced a 79-76 deficit with 21.7 seconds left.

Durant was on fire early, and Texas appeared to be on the track to run KU out of the building thanks to an incredible performance by the freshman star. Durant scored 19 points in the first 11:17 of the game, capped by a three that posted the Longhorns to a 30-10 lead with 8:43 left.

A D.J. Augustin layup at the 8:10 mark put Texas ahead 32-10, the largest lead of the game.

'We missed some good looks and we were too tight in pressing and everything,' Kansas coach Bill Self said.

The Jayhawks were able to hold Durant to only three points over the rest of the first half, though, and went on a run of their own. A Rush three set off a 24-7 Kansas stretch to close the half. Rush added two more treys on the run, and the Longhorns advantage was trimmed to 39-34 at the half.

Game Notes

Durant finished one point short of the record for points in a Big 12 Tournament game (38)...Kansas shot 20-of-23 from the free-throw line, while Texas made 24-of-32.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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