• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Arthur, Kansas bounce back to defeat Towson

Nov 20, 2006 - 3:33 AM LAWRENCE, Kansas (Ticker) -- Freshman Darrell Arthur and Kansas decided to eliminate another opportunity for disappointment early.

Arthur scored 14 of his season-high 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the third-ranked Jayhawks bounced back from their first loss of the season in impressive fashion with an 87-61 victory over Towson in the opener of the Las Vegas Invitational.

On Wednesday, Kansas absorbed a stunning 78-71 setback to Oral Roberts. The Jayhawks (2-1) trailed at the break and never saw the lead again.

"I don't think anything can make up for the loss," Arthur said. "We have to see it as motivation to come out every game and play strong. We have to match our opponent's intensity."

"We needed (something positive) really bad," said Kansas guard Mario Chalmers, who had 15 points. "Some of the guys were starting to get down on themselves. This one will help us bring everyone back up. We just have to keep fighting hard and not allow anything like that (loss against Oral Roberts) to happen again."

The Jayhawks took control early gainst the Tigers (2-1), building a 42-25 advantage at the break. Kansas drilled six 3-pointers and shot 51 percent (14-of-27) in the first half.

The Jayhawks turned 24 Tigers' turnovers into 33 points.

"What I saw KU do tonight that I didn't see them do in the tapes is that they really worked defensively," Tigers coach Pat Kennedy said. "They took us out of everything we were trying to do."

Arthur, who made 10-of-12 shots, keyed the decisive 18-6 run to end the half with a dunk at the seven-minute mark. Chalmers added 11 points, including three 3-pointers, during the burst and a jumper and layup by Arthur concluded the surge.

"Most of my shots were layups off of transition plays," Arthur said. "My teammates did a good job finding me."

In the second half, the Jayhawks just dominated in all aspects of the game, turning the contest into a one-sided highlight reel.

Coming off a career-high 41 points Thursday, Gary Neal finished with 17, the lone Towson player in double figures.

"We did a really good job on him (Neal)," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "I thought that Brandon (Rush) could guard him, and he really did an above-average job on him. We really wanted to get him (Rush) some minutes guarding him (Neal). Sherron (Collins) did a good job on him (Neal) too. All in all, we did a nice job on him."