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Kansas rallies past Kansas State

Feb 15, 2009 - 2:17 AM MANHATTAN, Kansas (Ticker) -- Cole Aldrich scored 21 points to lead 16th-ranked Kansas to an 85-74 victory over Kansas State on Saturday.

Sherron Collins added 18 points and Marcus Morris had 15 for the Jayhawks (20-5, 9-1 Big 12).

The Jayhawks outscored the Wildcats, 43-31, in the second half and did a better job defensively on Denis Clemente.

Clemente scored 18 of his 26 points in the first half as Kansas State (17-8, 6-5) held a 43-42 lead at the break.

"Give them credit. I never like to take away from the other team when the other team plays well and makes shots," Kansas State coach Frank Martin said. "We stopped defending them. We had some bad breakdowns on location but they need to be given credit too. They made the right passes, they made the right plays."

Kansas now has 20 wins for 20 consecutive seasons, a streak that started with the 1989-90 campaign.

The Wildcats lost, 87-71, at Kansas in January and came out determined to pay the Jayhawks back. On the strength of 18-2 run, Kansas State had the crowd in the game and opened up a 28-13 lead midway through the first half.

The Jayhawks closed within one at the break with a late 12-2 run and a 10-2 surge after the break put them ahead 63-53 with 10 minutes to play.

"We started to defend them a lot better as the game went on," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "It was amazing that we came back from being 16 down to one at halftime. We didn't play great in the second half, we only got off 16 shots, but we made our free throws. Other than a few turnovers late, I thought we showed a lot of courage."

Brady Morningstar added 12 for Kansas, which improved to 25-1 in Manhattan since 1984.

"Our guys stayed tough," Self said. "That may be as good a road win since I have been here given the youth and circumstances."

Jacob Pullen scored 13 of his 22 points in the first half for the Wildcats, who were 9-of-28 (32 percent) from the floor in the second half.

"A loss is terrible in our lockerroom. As competitive of a team as we are, as much as we want to win, when you lose, it's tough," Pullen said. "We've got to get over it and move on and get ready for the next game. Last year, we had a good home record. This year, we've got to finish strong because we've lost a few games at home."