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Robinson, Kansas hold on to beat Georgia Tech

Dec 19, 2007 - 4:56 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- It wasn't their best offensive game, but Kansas found a way to pull out a victory.

Russell Robinson scored a season-high 17 points and Brandon Rush added 11 and six rebounds as the third-ranked Jayhawks remained undefeated with a 71-66 triumph at Georgia Tech on Tuesday.

Kansas (11-0) came into the contest averaging 85.0 points per game and had been outscoring its opponents by 26.4 points in its first 10 wins of the season.

But the Jayhawks made just five field goals over the final 11:54 of the game and watched a 13-point lead dwindle down to 67-64 with 32 seconds to play.

"We certainly hurt ourselves late not being able to put the game away," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "But it's good to win games on the road where you have to grind it out. That's not a bad thing."

Robinson then missed a pair of free throws and Anthony Morrow converted two from the stripe to close Georgia Tech's deficit to 67-66 - the closest since 18:43 left in the first half - with nine seconds to play.

Sherron Collins made two free throws for the Jayhawks and then the sophomore guard stole an errant pass from Georgia Tech forward Zack Peacock, taking it in for a layup to secure the victory.

"I expected it to be a close game, but I didn't expect it to go down to the wire when we were up 13 with about six minutes left," Self said. "I told our guys that they were going to make a run. I had hoped that it would have been early in the half, and then we could handle that, but they made their run late and we missed free throws."

Collins finished with 11 points and Mario Chalmers also had 11 for the Jayhawks, who have won their last 22 regular-season games, dating back to last season.

"They are a good basketball team, a very well-coached team," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "They executed very well tonight and have great size, but we can't do some of the things we did tonight and expect to be a good basketball team."

With the game tied at 17-17, Kansas started to pull away midway through the first half. The Jayhawks used a 12-4 run - capped by Robinson's 3-pointer - to take a 29-21 lead with 5:46 left in the half.

The Jayhawks shot 50 percent (12-of-24) in the first and led, 36-29, at the break.

Georgia Tech scored the first basket after intermission to close within five but Kansas regained control, making 6-of-8 shots to start the second half to build its lead to double digits. Rush threw down a reverse dunk on a breakaway to give the Jayhawks their largest lead at 53-40 with 12:45 left to play.

The Yellow Jackets cut their deficit to 56-47 with under nine minutes to play but Robinson answered with a 3-pointer from well behind the arc to beat the shot clock, giving Kansas a 12-point lead with 6:16 remaining.

Georgia Tech shot 44 percent (24-of-54) for the game, but was hurt by committing 19 turnovers that led to 29 Kansas points.

"When we lose games like this, most of the time we do it to ourselves," Hewitt said. "We're a talented team but not a good basketball team, and there's a difference."

Lewis Clinch scored 22 points to lead Georgia Tech (4-5), which was playing its first game since December 5.

Morrow added 12 points for the Yellow Jackets, who are off to their worst start since the 2001-02 season.