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Arthur, Kansas pull away in second half from Baylor

Feb 10, 2008 - 4:40 AM LAWRENCE, Kansas (Ticker) -- Kansas used a hot-shooting second half to continue its domination of Baylor.

Darrell Arthur scored a season-high 23 points and added 10 rebounds as the fifth-ranked Jayhawks pulled away from the Bears, 100-90, in a Big 12 Conference matchup on Saturday.

Russell Robinson had a season-high 22 points and Sherron Collins added 17 for the Jayhawks, who have won 13 of the past 14 meetings with Baylor.

"(Darrell Arthur) was great offensively," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "Russell (Robinson) had a terrific game and he's tired - he had to chase (Curtis) Jerrells around the whole night.

"For the first time in a long time, and through no fault of his, just the fact that he was beat up, Sherron was Sherron. He changed the game in the second half."

After shooting under 40 percent in the first half, Kansas (23-1, 8-1 Big 12) connected on 63 percent (19-of-30) of its shots after the intermission. Amazingly, the Jayhawks did not make one 3-pointer in nine attempts for the contest, breaking a streak of 270 games with at least one shot from the arc.

However, the Jayhawks did make 36-of-46 free throws, led by 14-of-15 from Robinson, which are both career highs.

"We wanted to play our game, but the 3-pointer didn't come to us today," Robinson said. "We were able to get any shot we wanted and we got the ball inside. We were also able to get some transition buckets."

Baylor had control of the game early and took its biggest lead at 20-13 after a 3-pointer by Jerrells with 10:02 left in the first half.

Kansas responded with a 14-3 run to take a 27-23 lead en route to a 36-33 advantage at intermission.

Arthur's layup gave Kansas a 46-39 bulge but Baylor came back to tie the game at 50-50 with 13:12 remaining on a three-point play from LaceDarius Dunn.

But the Jayhawks took the lead for good, using a 9-2 run to take a 59-52 advantage, and Kansas pushed the margin to 67-56 after a layup by Collins with 7:53 to play.

"I think that for the first time they had to step up their game in the second half when it was tied," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "I thought that we saw them go to another level and credit to KU players and coach Self for that. We haven't made them go to that extra gear before.

"The good thing is we're getting closer, the bad thing is it wasn't a win and that's what we came here to do."

The Bears (17-5, 5-3) never got closer than eight the rest of the way and trailed by as many as 15 at 86-71 with 2:26 left.

Baylor shot 12-of-29 from the arc but committed eight more turnovers than the Jayhawks - with the 17 giveaways leading to 21 Kansas points.

Jerrells had 17 of his 30 points - most by a Kansas opponent this season - in the first half and Dunn finished with 23 for Baylor, which has lost three of its last four games.

"You can't show any fear," Jerrells said. "You can't go out there and look at the name on the jersey or that (number) four (ranking) by their name. That's why you play the game. On any given night anybody can win. They played 40 minutes tonight and we didn't."