Nevada Upsets Kansas

Kirk Snyder had 29 points and nine rebounds and Nevada used accurate free-throw shooting down the stretch to upset No. 6-ranked Kansas, 75-61, Sunday night in the Wolf Pack Holiday Classic at Reno.

Nevada made 19 of 21 free throws over the final 10 minutes to hold off the Jayhawks. Todd Okeson had 12 points and Kevinn Pinkney added 10 for the Wolf Pack (5-3), who were mobbed by more than 100 students who charged the floor at the buzzer in front of 10,983 fans, the sixth largest crowd in school history.

Keith Langford and Aaron Miles each had 11 points for Kansas (6-2), which went on a 20-8 run late the game to pull within 68-61 with 1:47 left but couldn’t overcome a 20-point halftime deficit.

Nevada dominated the first half, outrebounding the Jayhawks, 23-13, while limiting them to 26% shooting.

No. 5 Georgia Tech 79, St. John’s 66 -- B.J. Elder scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half as the Yellow Jackets (10-0) beat the Red Storm (2-5) only two days after Kevin Clark replaced Mike Jarvis as coach.

“Coach Jarvis was a great coach,” St. John’s forward Grady Reynolds said. “We wanted to win this game for him.”

Jarvis was fired Friday, six games into his sixth season. St. John’s lost four of its first five games, which hadn’t happened since 1922-23, and even a victory over St. Francis, N.Y., in his final game wasn’t enough to save Jarvis’ job.

“I thought today was a terrific effort by the St. John’s men’s basketball team,” Clark, the interim coach, said. “They showed tremendous character against an excellent Georgia Tech basketball team, against a lot of adversity.”

The Yellow Jackets continued their best start since 1989-90, and they’re one victory away from tying the all-time best start.

No. 10 Missouri 106, North Carolina Greensboro 98 -- Jason Conley, a transfer playing in his first game for Missouri, and Arthur Johnson each scored 19 points to lead the Tigers (4-1) at Columbia, Mo. Jay Joseph and Ronnie Burrell each had 22 points for the Spartans (4-5).

Conley, a junior who led the nation in scoring as a freshman at VMI, had to sit out until Missouri’s semester break after transferring.

Southern Methodist 60, No. 17 Purdue 59 -- Bryan Hopkins scored on a driving layup with 24 seconds left to lift Mustangs (5-3) in the title game of the Boilermaker Invitational at West Lafayette, Ind. Kenneth Lowe had two chances to win the game for the Boilermakers (8-2), including a coast-to-coast drive as time ran out.