BOSTON - Rakim Sanders just had to open his mouth.

Boston College had pulled within 14, its closest margin since the first half, and Mario Chalmers slipped into Sanders’ chest. It was an accident, but Sanders didn’t think so. He got in Chalmers’ face, saying a few words to the junior guard.

Not a bright idea. Although the fight never escalated into something serious after the referees and Darnell Jackson played peacemakers, Kansas responded with a different kind of punch. The Jayhawks started a 13-2 run midway through the second half and dashed all the Eagles’ momentum in a game the Jayhawks went on to win 85-60 Saturday at Conte Forum.

“It fired us up a lot,” said Jackson, a senior forward. “I’m glad it didn’t go above the roof where we’d have to fight. Everybody just came out. We all just said our words and went out there and competed.”

Jackson started the final run with a layup in transition, and sophomore forward Darrell Arthur scored the next four points with two free throws and a put-back. It was fitting that the Jayhawks went to the two post players to seal the game because Jackson and Arthur had come up big since the game’s opening minutes. They scored 15 of Kansas’ first 17 points. By the end, Jackson had a career-high 25 points, and Arthur scored 22 in just 24 minutes. The duo made 19 of 25 field goals and 9 of 10 free throws.

“I thought we were more aggressive,” Arthur said. “We tried to attack their bigs. They had a great shot blocker in there with Blair, and we tried to attack him and get him into foul trouble. I thought we did a good job trying to go inside and attacking the rim, getting offensive rebounds.”

Jackson’s performance might have been surprising a year ago but not this season. He had already topped the 20-point plateau twice before Saturday and is averaging 11.5 points per game.

Few would have believed it before the season, but it was actually a bigger shock that Arthur was able to score so efficiently. He hadn’t scored more than 20 points since November and had struggled with fouls and shooting in earlier road battles at Southern California and Georgia Tech.

Those performances puzzled the small army of NBA scouts who watched at those games and Self. Before the season started, Self said Arthur was a dominant scorer in practice and the most improved player on the team. He said Arthur hadn’t reached his potential yet because he wasn’t finding easy shots. Self wanted him to get those shots by grabbing offensive rebounds and staying around the paint.

“Night in, night out he should be able to generate points,” Self said. “And he hasn’t done that consistently.”

He finally did Saturday. The ball only came out of Arthur’s hands if it was for a layup, dunk, short fadeaway or free throw.

“It’s hard to get them sometimes with a lot of bigs in there,” Arthur said about easy baskets. “When you try to go out there, you get your hands on the ball sometimes, sometimes you don’t. I’m getting my hands on a lot of balls, but I’m just not getting all of them. But I think, if I miss one D-Block can get it. Or if he misses, I can get it.”

With Arthur and Jackson leading the charge, the Jayhawks put together one of their most complete performances of the season. Kansas’ two previous road games had been as nerve-wracking as they could possibly be for an undefeated team. No lead was safe. Turnovers came aplenty. Scoring droughts struck like the game was in the Sahara.

Those problems didn’t lead to losses at Southern California or Georgia Tech, but they did make for frustrating games that the Jayhawks won by a combined nine points when they should’ve won comfortably.

This time it all came together.

Kansas shot 53 percent from the field, outrebounded Boston College by 15, picked up 10 steals and only turned the ball over 10 times. The Jayhawks pulled away in the first half with a 25-7 run in the final eight minutes. The Eagles made a move when Kansas’ offense stalled midway through the second half, but the altercation between Sanders and Chalmers helped bring the intensity back.

“Even though the game wasn’t in doubt, that was good for us to go through that,” Self said. “I thought we competed the hardest when we felt the tightest.”

And although it took that small fight to energize the team when the Eagles started to come back, the Jayhawks showed that when Arthur and Jackson score and find open guards on the wing like they did Saturday, they’re going to be tough to beat.

“I don’t think we have any limits if they’re playing like that,” Chalmers said.