ST. LOUIS (AP) – Ron Baker had 22 points, six rebounds and four steals and No. 12 Wichita State got a pair of key plays from Fred VanVleet in the closing seconds to edge Saint Louis 70-65 on Sunday.

Chadrack Lufile hit a layup off VanVleet’s pass for a 68-65 lead with 14 seconds to go, and VanVleet added a pair of free throws with 3.2 seconds left. Cleanthony Early missed eight of 12 shots but hit a pair of key 3-pointers late and had 12 points for the Shockers (8-0).

Saint Louis missed two 3-point attempts and Jake Barnett missed a second free throw with a chance to tie it at 66 with 30.1 seconds to go.

Dwayne Evans had 18 points and nine rebounds for Saint Louis (6-2). Tekele Cotton had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Wichita State.

St. Louis honored Rick Majerus during a halftime ceremony on the anniversary of his death.

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Freshman guard Wayne Selden, Jr., scored 14 points and sophomore forward Perry Ellis added a game-high 19, including three crucial free throws with under 30 seconds to play, to lead No. 2 Kansas past UTEP, 67-63, and a third-place finish in the Battle 4 Atlantis Saturday night.

After Kansas (6-1) pushed its way to a 13-point lead with 1:45 to play, the Miners (4-4) closed the gap to three with six seconds left in the game after McKenzie Moore knocked down three free throws, following a foul by freshman guard Frank Mason. On the ensuing possession, Ellis converted one-of-two free throws to put Kansas up for good.

The Miners were led in scoring by junior guard C.J. Cooper’s 15 points, while senior guard Justin Crosgile added 14 and freshman forward Vince Hunter contributed 10 points to round out the UTEP double-figure scorers.

For Kansas, junior guard Naadir Tharpe added 11 points and four assists to join Ellis and Selden, Jr., in double figures.

Freshman center Joel Embiid provided the spark in the second half that Kansas lacked for much of the first period, doing so mostly on the defensive end. The seven-footer controlled the paint, blocking seven shots, the most by a Jayhawk this season. Embiid also added nine points and six rebounds.

One day after suffering their first loss on the season, the Jayhawks struggled early to score. Neither team scored a basket in the first four minutes of the contest. UTEP, coming off of a lopsided loss to No. 23 Iowa, didn’t convert a basket until 12:48 was left to play in the first half.

Selden got the Jayhawks going early, scoring eight of Kansas’ first 10 points on the evening, behind two three-pointers and a strong drive to the basket. Ellis added two early free throws and Embiid fought off contact for a layup and converted the ensuing foul shot to give Kansas a commanding 15-2 lead.

Aside from the Jayhawks quick 13-point lead, neither team could put together a consistent string of baskets in the first half. After UTEP scored on back-to-back possessions, freshman guard Andrew Wiggins hit his first shot of the day, a three-pointer to push the Kansas lead back to nine, 29-20, with just over two minutes to play in the half. Wiggins followed that with a drive to the basket drawing a foul and making the free throw to push KU’s lead to 12. Those two buckets marked his only points in the contest, but the Canadian stand out contributed seven rebounds.

UTEP would answer with two-straight baskets before Selden slashed for a layup as halftime approached to extend the Kansas lead back to nine at the half. Selden led all first half scorers with 12 points and Wiggins added six for the Jayhawks.

Crosgile led UTEP’s first half scoring effort with six points. Matt Willms added five and Cooper, Moore and Julian Washburn each added four.

The Jayhawks grabbed their first win over UTEP in the teams’ series history. UTEP leads the series 3-1 overall with thee last meeting coming in 1992.

UP NEXT
Kansas will hit the road for tough back-to-back road tests when the Jayhawks go on the road to Colorado (Dec. 7) and then to Florida (Dec. 10).

Courtesy kuathletics.com

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PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) — Ryan Arcidiacono’s 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left put Villanova on top for good, and the Wildcats upset No. 2 Kansas 63-59 in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis on Friday night.

Arcidiacono had missed all five of his previous shots, but made the one that counted — the only field goal for the Wildcats in the final 7 minutes.

Darrun Hilliard and Dylan Ennis each scored 14 for Villanova (6-0), which meets Iowa in Saturday night’s championship game. JayVaughn Pinkston scored 13 and James Bell added 10 for the Wildcats.

Frank Mason scored 12 for Kansas (5-1). His three-point play with 34.2 seconds left gave Kansas its first lead in more than 25 minutes, but the Jayhawks couldn’t hold on in the final moments.

Perry Ellis scored 11, while Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid added 10 each for Kansas, which plays Texas-El Paso in the third-place game Saturday.

(AP) — The Kansas City Royals have given general manager Dayton Moore a two-year contract extension through the 2016 season after the team had its best record in more than 20 years.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Moore joined the Royals in 2006, taking over a franchise that had become a laughingstock. But he rebuilt a depleted farm system, and his work has begun to pay off. Several homegrown players contributed to an 86-76 season this past year.

The Royals rewarded manager Ned Yost with a two-year extension in October, which meant that for the past couple months he’d been working on a longer contract than his boss.

Moore had said all along he wasn’t worried about getting a new deal.

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) – Andrew Wiggins scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half and No. 2 Kansas moved into the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis, downing previously unbeaten Wake Forest 87-78 on Thursday.

Frank Mason scored 13 points and Joel Embiid added 10 for the Jayhawks (5-0), who had a 14-point halftime lead trimmed to four before hanging on in the final minutes.

Kansas will play Villanova on Friday night for a spot in the title game.

Codi Miller-McIntyre scored 20 of his 26 points in the second half for Wake Forest (5-1). The Demon Deacons held Kansas to a season-low 47 percent from the field, but lost forward Devin Thomas after he was ejected for two technical fouls with 7:28 remaining.

Ron Baker scored 23 points, making six straight free throws down the stretch, and No. 12 Wichita State held off BYU for a 75-62 victory Tuesday night in the title game of the CBE Classic.

Fred VanVleet and Cleanthony Early added 12 points each for the Shockers (7-0), who trailed by two at halftime but used hustle and physical play inside to wear down the Cougars.

Wichita State was clinging to a 68-62 lead when Baker was popped by BYU’s Nate Austin, who was given a flagrent-2 foul and ejected from the game. Baker made both free throws with 45.3 seconds left, and then two more when he was fouled with just more than 30 seconds remaining.

The Cougars (5-2) were then hit with a technical foul on their bench for protesting a series of calls, and Baker tacked on two more free throws to put the game out of reach.