Darryn Peterson recovered from a slow start to lead No. 4 Kansas to a 26-point lead over No. 13 Cal Baptist Friday night.
The Jayhawks then survived a furious late rally from the Lancers to hold on for a 68-60 win in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Peterson finished 28 points to outduel Cal Baptist's Dominique Daniels Jr., who scored 20 of his 25 points after halftime.
And the Jayhawks survived a late near-collapse in which the Lancers finished the game on an 18-4 run.
With the first-round win, No., 4 Kansas advances to face Rick Pitino and No. 5 St. John's on Sunday. The winner of that matchup faces a potential Sweet 16 showdown with Duke. That is, if the Blue Devils can get past TCU on Saturday.
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Peterson takes over after slow start
While KU's defense limited Cal Baptist to 18 first-half points, Peterson began to take over on offense. He closed the first half with seven straight Kansas points including a contested step-back 3 to beat the buzzer.
After starting 0 for 6, he finished the half with 15 points on a 6-of-14 shooting clip. He then picked up after halftime where he left off with a 3-pointer to extend his streak to 10 straight Kansas points.
When Cal Baptist reeled off a 10-0 run to cut KU's lead to 64-42, Peterson answered with a floater in traffic to stem the tide. He didn't score again as Cal Baptist cut the once 26-point Kansas lead to 66-60 in the final two minutes.
But the once-large Kansas lead was enough to hold off Cal Baptist's upset bid.