Monday, February 21, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 5
Earl's return helps Jayhawks rope Sooners
Suspension lifted; forward's defense key to 53-50 victory
By Matt Tait sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Les is more — for the Kansas basketball team that is.
Senior forward Lester Earl returned to the Jayhawks yesterday after his indefinite suspension was lifted Saturday night and provided No. 24 Kansas with a late defensive spark that helped propel the Jayhawks to a much-needed and hard-fought 53-50 victory against No. 20 Oklahoma.
"Lester, for five minutes, gave us a heck of a lift defensively. He is one guy who can play the Fizers and Najers better than anyone we have," said coach Roy Williams, referring to Iowa State's Marcus Fizer and Oklahoma's Eduardo Naiera.
That is exactly what Earl did.
That is exactly what Earl took. Used sparingly, Earl did not take the floor until four minutes remaining in the first half. Immediately, Earl grabbed a rebound on a missed free throw, and seconds later he launched the ball into the backcourt: one rebound, one turnover,
one minute — welcome back.
"It felt good knowing that I was going to play, knowing that it was going to be a tough game and knowing that I was going to help this team out," said Earl, who found out that he would be eligible to play
against Oklahoma during Saturday's practice.
His one first-half rebound and turnover were hardly the last that the Allen Fieldhouse crowd saw from Earl yesterday.
For much of the second half Earl sat on the bench as Kansas and Oklahoma battled. Kansas led most of the way, but a late Sooner rally gave Oklahoma the lead and doubts entered the heads of the jayb
the heads of the Jayhawks.
"I had confidence we were going to win," center Eric Chenwolith said. "But I didn't know we were going to win. Those free throws were pretty nerve-racking."
The free throws came during a 30-second stretch in which Kansas missed five of six from the line late in the game. And Aarl started it all.
With 11 seconds remaining on the shot clock and 41 seconds in the game,
Oklahoma was down two points and had possession. Earl, who entered the game for defensive purposes, left his man to help defend a six-foot baseline jumper. His outstretched arms upset the shot, and as Earl turned to rebound, the ball fell into his hands. He was then pushed out of bounds and sent to the free-throw line with 30 seconds left.
Earl, a notoriously bad free-throw shooter, stepped to the line with visions of Ollie from the movie *Hoosiers* in his head.
"I had never seen Hoosiers before and I watched it last night, so I thought that would be me stepping to the line and making the free throws," said Earl, who's a 60 percent career free-throw shooter.
Unlike Ollie, however, Earl missed both free throws, but Kansas point guard Jeff Boschee came down with the rebound. Kansas was not out of the woods yet, as Boschee, who is shooting 82 percent from the line this season, missed two as well. Enter Ken, and lost time.
With Kansas, he still up only two, Earl did just what he was inserted to do.
Najera caught the ball in transition, and Earl challenged him immediately. As Najera cut right, Earl reached in and bothered his dribble. In an attempt to recover it, Najera lost the ball out of bounds.
In front of a wild crowd, Earl ran down the court and jumped into the air in ciele
"It felt good knowing that I was going to play, knowing that it was going to be a tough game and knowing that I was going to help this team out,"
Lester Earl Kansas senior forward
bration.
"I knew I wasn't going to let my man score," Earl said.
And after what turned out to be a sevengame suspension, Earl's presence was immediately felt.
"Lester Earl came in and gave us a boost guarding Najera and shutting him down [8 points on 3-of-12 shootin'], forward Drew Gooden said. "That last minute, Les came in and played excellent 'D' on Najera."
"This team is my first priority," he said. "Whatever happens with anything else, happens, but first priority is this team. This is something I have to focus on mainly. I can't have any more distractions."
And from here on out that would be his role, Earl said.
'Hawks maintain defensive edge in showdown
Mistakes doom K-State in 61-43 Kansas victory
By Melinda Weaver sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
No one would have mistaken Saturday's Sunflower Showdown for a ballet.
ers missing easy shots in the paint.
There weren't amazing shots, or fancy dribbling, or well-executed set plays. Even clean possessions were hard to come by.
But the Kansas women's basketball team made fewer mistakes than Kansas State, and the Wildcats left town on the wrong end of a 61-43 defensive battle.
The Jayhawks played aggressive defense, but were helped by Wildcat guards dribbling the ball off their toes and post play-
"If you can't get into your offense, you can't produce points," said Wildcats senior forward Nicky Ramage. "We couldn't score, and we kept throwing the ball away."
In all, Kansas State turned over the ball 24 times and managed only four steals.
"Kansas is that much quicker," said Wildcat coach Deb Patterson. "They are faster, quicker, bigger, stronger. They exploit your weaknesses and maximize their strengths. It just felt like our feet were in syrup, and we couldn't get out of it and get any real rhythm."
And it's not as if this team is incapable of producing points.
The Wildcats beat No. 10 Iowa State by three points last weekend and came within three in the teams' first match, shooting
better from three-point range than the Cyclones.
Guard Kim Woodlee showed signs of that offensive potential Saturday when she hit three three-pointers and scored 11 points. But the team shot only five-for-15 overall from three-point range.
Ramage led the team in scoring with 13 points and center Olga Firsova added 10 points in four-of-14 shooting.
"When they couldn't find any offense, they broke down on defense," said Kansas forward Jaclyn Johnson, who led the Jayhawks in scoring with 16 points.
The breakdowns allowed Kansas to get easy baskets in the paint. Johnson capitalized and put together a strong performance.
"Jaclyn is a great ballplayer," Ramage said. "When it comes to games like this where you get down like that in the second half, you just try to fight back. Jaclyn made some great plays and had some great looks, and it was totally a credit to her."
With road games against Missouri and Oklahoma coming up with the Big 12 Conference title on the line for Kansas, the Jayhawks wanted to establish a tough defense, and they did that against the Wildcats.
"It's attitude," said senior forward Lynn Pride. "For the last couple of games now, we've been showing teams how good our defense can be. We are being consistent, and we are all bringing it to the table."
Temple ends Cincinnati's home streak
The Associated Press
CINCINNATI — Temple stopped the nation's longest current winning streak yesterday, beating No. 1 Cincinnati on a court where the Bearcats usually rule.
Cincinnati had won 16 in a row — tops in Division I — and its home-court winning streak was at 42 before Temple took command. The Owls now have won 11 in a row, their most since the 1993-94 season.
Temple's tight, matchup zone bothered Cincinnati throughout the game. The Owls delivered yet another blow to the Bearcats, who were knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the second round last year by Temple.
With Mark Karcher scoring 22 of his 28 points in the second half, No. 15 Temple made the most of a gritty defense and rallied for the 77-69 victory.
Karcher led a 16-8 run after Cincinnati had taken a seven-point lead, its biggest of the game, midway through the second half.
Quincy Wadley added 16 points for Temple, 20-4, and Lynn Greer scored 15. all in the first half.
DerMar Johnson had 16 points for Cincinnati, which fell to 24-2. Pete Mickeal scored 14, Kenyon Martin 13 and Kenny Satterfield 10.
Cincinnati was unable to generate any perimeter offense in the early going. Temple, however, had no problems from outside.
Greer, who averages 12 points a game and has been shooting 36 percent from long range, came off the bench and shot five-of-five in the first half.
Temple dominated play early, with Cincinnati's first lead coming at 1:25 in the first half when Johnson hit the second of consecutive three-pointers.
The Bearcats led 34-33 at halftime, and Cincinnati cranked its defense at the start of the second half. That produced a 9-0 run in which Keith Logan hit two three-pointers. His second gave Cincinnati a 53-46 lead with 10:31 left.
But Cincinnati was not able to contain Karcher, who scored 13 points during Temple's 16-8 run. From that point, Wadley took control and scored eight points in the final three minutes.
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