COLLEGE BASKETBALL / PRESEASON NIT : Murray, Kidd Get No Help as Cal Loses to Kansas

Lamond Murray and Jason Kidd were a two-man team for No. 6-ranked California against No. 9 Kansas in a second-round Preseason NIT game Friday night at Lawrence, Kan.

But they weren’t enough, and balance won out as the Jayhawks built a 19-point halftime lead and hung on for a 73-56 victory.

After Cal went the last seven minutes of the first half without a field goal while being outscored 23-5, Kidd and Murray led a 19-5 run at the start of the second half that cut Kansas’ lead to 46-41 with 13:30 left.

But the Jayhawks, who missed 11 of their first 13 shots in the second half, got a steal and two free throws from Calvin Rayford and went on a 16-6 spree.

Murray, who finished with 24 points, and Kidd, who had 22, scored all but one of the Bears’ second-half field goals.

Richard Scott led Kansas with 19 points.

Kansas advances to the semifinals Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, where it will play the winner of today’s game between Georgia and Minnesota.

No. 1 North Carolina 90, No. 19 Cincinnati 63--The Tar Heels went on a 12-0 run at the end of the half to break open a close second-round game at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Donald Williams, who scored 27 points in North Carolina’s 101-87 victory over Western Kentucky in the first round, led the defending national champions against the Bearcats with 21 points. Eric Montross, the Tar Heels’ 7-foot, 270-pound center, scored 16 points.

Damon Flint, one of three freshman starters, led the Bearcats with 23 points.

The game was a rematch of last year’s East Regional final, won by the Tar Heels in overtime, 75-68.

“It kind of bothered us after that game that they said they played harder than we did,” Montross said.

North Carolina advances to the semifinals Wednesday against the winner of today’s Massachusetts-Towson State game.