STILLWATER, Okla. - Naadir Tharpe connected on a short jumper in the lane with 16.5 seconds left in the second overtime, lifting No. 9 Kansas to a 68-67 win over No. 14 Oklahoma State on Wednesday night.
Travis Releford scored 18 points and Jeff Withey had three double-overtime free throws among his 17 points for the Jayhawks (22-4, 10-4 Big 12), who are tied with No. 13 Kansas State for the conference lead with five games to go.
Kansas has had at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title for each of the past eight years, but that streak was in jeopardy against the surging Cowboys.
Markel Brown scored 20 points to lead Oklahoma State (19-6, 9-4), which had won seven straight.
• No. 3 Gonzaga 85, Santa Clara 48: In Spokane, Wash., Elias Harris scored 17 points and the Zags cruised to their ninth win in a row.
Kelly Olynyk added 15 points for Gonzaga (26-2, 13-0 West Coast), which is riding its best ranking in the poll ever.
Brandon Clark led Santa Clara (19-9, 7-6) with 14 points. Leading scorer Kevin Foster was saddled with three fouls in the first half and finished with just four points, 14 below his average.
• No. 8 Syracuse 84, Providence 59: In Syracuse, N.Y., James Southerland scored 20 points, Michael Carter-Williams had 15 points and 12 assists for Syracuse.
Syracuse (22-4, 10-3 Big East) has won 38 straight home games, the longest active streak in Division I.
• No, 11 Georgetown 90, DePaul 66: In Washington, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera scored a career-high 33 points - the most by any Georgetown player this season - and the Hoyas moved back into a tie for first place in the Big East.
Smith-Rivera went 10 for 12 from the field, 8 for 10 from the free-throw line and made 5 of 6 three-pointers.
• No. 18 Ohio State 71, Minnesota 45: In Columbus, Ohio, Deshaun Thomas overcame a slow start to score 19 points and Ohio State used a 16-0 second-half run to cruise past Minnesota.
Both had lost three of their last four, and each was humiliated on the road on Sunday. The Golden Gophers (18-9, 6-8 Big Ten) were pounded at Iowa, 72-51, while Ohio State (19-7, 9-5) wasn't a factor over the final 35 minutes in a 71-49 rout by Wisconsin.
• No. 19 Wisconsin 69, Northwestern 41: In Evanston, Ill., Jared Berggren and Ben Brust each scored 12 points, and Wisconsin won its fifth win in six games.
The balanced Badgers (19-8, 10-4 Big Ten) had five players with at least eight points and held the Wildcats to 29-percent shooting during a very businesslike performance.
Wisconsin snapped a tie with No. 7 Michigan for third in the loaded Big Ten and moved within a game of fourth-ranked Michigan State for the second spot.
• No. 21 Memphis 81, Houston 74: In Memphis, Tenn., Adonis Thomas scored 22 points, Chris Crawford had 11 points and a career-high 13 rebounds as Memphis won its 17th straight win.
Thomas also had eight rebounds and Crawford finished one assist shy of a triple-double for the Tigers (23-2, 12-0 Conference USA).
• UNLV 61, No. 22 Colorado State 59: In Las Vegas, Anthony Marshall's short jumper just inside the free throw line with 7 seconds lifted UNLV.
Bryce Dejean-Jones and Katin Reinhardt had 15 points each for the Runnin' Rebels (20-7, 7-5 Mountain West).
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