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--> --> Kansas holds off pesky Princeton squad PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) - Princeton hasn't exactly had an easy early schedule - and the team's record shows it. The Tigers played their third game against a Top Ten team Wednesday night and absorbed their third defeat against the nation's elite, losing to No. 4 Kansas 78-62. By no means has Princeton (2-6) faced the toughest competition possible - No. 6 Arizona, for example, played five of six games against ranked teams - but the Tigers have had an uphill climb. "We've always played a difficult schedule and the top teams. What happened this year is not abnormal," second-year Princeton coach John Thompson III said. "Obviously, in eight games to have played three is extreme, and we are a young team. For large stretches, we had freshmen and sophomores out there." Unfortunately for Princeton, the Jayhawks (7-1) used upperclassmen such as Nick Collison, Drew Gooden and Kirk Hinrich, who gave coach Roy Williams 33 good minutes. "I was very happy with the way we played except for the last six, seven minutes of the first half," Williams said. "We had a nice lead, and they made a great run, and that got the crowd into it, and we made a mistake to let them get a big 3. That might have been the maddest I've ever been, but I was really pleased with the second half." What got Williams so angry was the Jayhawks' letting a 19-point slip away as the Tigers closed the first half with a 12-2 run to close to 35-29. A buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Ed Persia brought Princeton within six at halftime and got the sellout crowd of 6,854 at Jadwin Gymnasium fired up. Persia, a sophomore whose minutes were limited as the Tigers tried to settle on a guard rotation, was 2-for-14 from 3-point range for the season before hitting the halftime closer. "Honestly, I didn't know how much time was left, I just let it go," said Persia, who finished with nine points - all on 3s - and five assists. Three other Tigers scored nine. The Jayhawks took Williams' stinging halftime advice to heart, especially Collison, who had six points in the 10-0 run to open the half and had 11 of his 19 in the first 10 minutes of the second half. "I was a little upset at halftime because I was not as aggressive as I need to be," Collison said. "I pushed it up a notch from the first half. Our quickness helped, but it was more of our paying more attention to detail after we let down at the end of the first half." Collison had a three-point play on a dunk after a steal as Kansas used a 9-0 run to take a 58-37 lead with 9:33 to play. The Tigers, whose other Top Ten losses were to Saint Joseph's and Maryland, never got closer than 15 the rest of the way. Kansas' biggest lead was 78-55 on a dunk by Jeff Carey with 1:21 to play. "Each of the Top Ten teams had an all-around team and were deep and had really good guards," Persia said. "Still, we can match up with any of them, but sooner or later we stop doing the little things. If we can keep doing those things, we're good enough to beat those teams." Persia has obviously been listening to his coach. "It's a cliche, but it's a game of inches in so many ways," Thompson said. "It's those small things, and we've slowly but surely fixed some and we'll fix some more." Freshman Aaron Miles added 16 points for the Jayhawks, whose only loss was in the season opener to Ball State. Gooden had 15 points, Hinrich 11. "That style of play is really tough to play against," Hinrich said of Princeton's patient offense, which is known for spreading the floor for backdoor cuts and NCAA tournament scares. "I don't know about any mystique, but they're a good team." Will Venable led Princeton with 11 points. No. 15 Iowa 101, Drake 59 Luke Recker snapped out of a shooting slump with a season-high 24 points, and host Iowa broke the game open with a 28-5 run. Reggie Evans added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Iowa (8-3), which beat Drake (4-3) for the 23rd straight time. It was the biggest margin of victory in a series that dates to 1909. The most onesided game previously was a 52-11 Iowa victory in 1932. J.J. Sola led Drake with 19 points. Oregon St. 51, PSU 46 Oregon State had to look inside to find a way to rally past Portland State on Wednesday. The Beavers' inside players dominated the Vikings in the second half, helping to erase a 10-point deficit as Oregon State beat Portland State 51-46 in an ugly game at The Rose Garden. OSU forward Brian Jackson scored 17 points and Philip Ricci added 13 for the Beavers (5-2), who beat Portland State for the 10th straight time. Anthony Lackey led Portland State (3-4) with 10 points. Both teams struggled offensively. Oregon State shot just 32 percent while Portland State connected on 36 percent. Trailing 31-21 with 15:53 left, Oregon State turned to its inside game and went on a 21-6 run, taking a 42-37 lead when Jackson scored on a dunk and was fouled. Ricci scored eight points in the Beavers' run and Jackson had seven. "We haven't had the ability to come back from 10 points in the second half, so this was a real maturation process for us," said OSU head coach Ritchie McKay, who coached Portland State from 1996 to 1998. "We didn't panic and rely on 3-pointers. Jackson wanted the ball and made a lot of good things happen for us." The Vikings cut the lead to 47-46 on a jumper by Seamus Boxley with 1:12 to play but turned the ball over in their final two possessions with chances to tie or take the lead. "We played with a great effort tonight but didn't take care of the ball down the stretch," said PSU head coach Joel Sobotka. "I'm happy with the way we competed, but we just have to play a little smarter." In a low scoring first half, Oregon State jumped to an early 7-2 lead, but then went cold, going nearly 11 minutes without a field goal. OSU shot 28 percent from the field in the half. Meanwhile, Portland State connected on five 3-point field goals in the first half, including a 35-foot buzzer-beater from Troy DeVries, to grab a 23-17 halftime lead. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing