Men's Hoops Falls Short Against No. 15 Kansas
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
January 11, 1999
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Ryan Robertson had 17 points and nine rebounds, and No. 15 Kansas held Missouri to 16 percent first-half shooting in a 73-61 victory over the Tigers on Monday night.
Kansas (12-3, 4-0 Big 12) held Missouri scoreless for more than eight minutes en route to a 17-point halftime lead, then held off a late surge by the Tigers (12-3, 3-1).
Jeff Boschee added 15 points for Kansas, which is 36-1 in January the last three seasons. The only loss in that span was to Missouri last season.
The 61 points were a season-low for Missouri, which scored a season-high 96 points against Texas A&M on Saturday.
Winning at Missouri has always been tough for Kansas. The Tigers had won three straight at home against Kansas teams ranked either No. 1 or No. 3.
Albert White, Missouri's leading scorer with a 17.6-point average, didn't score until 13:02 remaining and finished with nine points on 4-for-11 shooting. John Woods scored 13 points and Monte Hardge had 11 for the Tigers.
Kansas took a 32-15 halftime lead despite shooting 29 percent from the field. Missouri missed its first six shots and trailed 10-0 before closing to 12-10. But Kansas then scored 14 straight points, including a pair of 3-pointer by Boschee, to take a 26-10 lead with 4:49 left in the half.
Missouri matched its first-half basket total in the first 4:35 of the second half, starting 5-for-8, and narrowed the gap to 10 points three times.
The Tigers later went on a 9-0 run and pulled within 54-48 on White's driving shot with 4:37 left.
Kansas got the lead back to double figures when Marlon London was fouled while hitting a bank shot. He missed the free throw but Eric Chenowith, who finished with 13 rebounds, scored for a 61-51 lead with 3:01 remaining.
Robertson helped clinch it by making four free throws in the last 1:31.
By R.B. FALLSTROM
AP Sports Writer
