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Jackson helps Kansas rebound, cruise past Colorado

Feb 3, 2008 - 4:31 AM BOULDER, Colorado (Ticker) -- Darnell Jackson and Kansas took control in the second half.

Jackson scored 18 points as No. 2 Kansas posted a 72-59 victory over Colorado in the Big 12 Conference on Saturday.

Brandon Rush scored 15 points and Sasha Kaun had 12 for the Jayhawks (21-1, 6-1), who rebounded from their first loss of the season.

"I told the guys that no one's throwing us a 'pity party' because we lost a game," Kansas coach Bill Self said.

After starting the season at 20-0, Kansas dropped an 84-75 decision at No. 24 Kansas State on Wednesday, its first loss there since 1983.

"Coming off our Kansas State loss, we carried that over into the first half," Jackson said. "But, as long as we play as a team we'll be alright. We had to dig deep inside. We just have to pull together as a team and win more games."

With the score knotted at 30-30 at intermission, the Jayhawks began the second half on an 8-0 run to take command.

"We started the second half 0-for-6 and that allowed them to gain separation," Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik said.

Jackson, who connected on 4-of-7 shots from the floor and 10-of-10 from the foul line, scored six points in the spurt.

"We made a few plays and got a few dunks that changed the momentum of the game, but we still had to go back and play defense on the other end," Jackson said.

After Richard Roby made a jumper to cut Colorado's deficit to 51-48 with 8:22 left, Kansas then went on an 11-2 burst that was capped by a dunk by Mario Chalmers to make it 62-50 with 6:01 remaining.

"In the second half, we had to find out what was inside our jerseys," Self said. "We had some bad possessions after halftime, otherwise it would have been even more impressive. The whole team was fired up in the second half and I think Mario was the guy today that had the energy."

Chalmers finished with eight points for the Jayhawks, who shot 53 percent (24-of-45).

"The Buffaloes fought with us the whole game and had us on our heels in the first half," Chalmers said.

Roby scored a game-high 22 points and Marcus Hall chipped in 13 for the Buffaloes (9-12, 1-6), who shot 44 percent (22-of 50) in dropping their 10 straight meeting with the Jayhawks.

"We had mismatches on the court," Roby said. "We knew it was going to be like that - we've been undersized all year. You've just got to compete down there. Being 6-6, 200 pounds, I have to compete with guys 50 pounds heavier than me."