Travis Releford led three Kansas scorers in double figures with 12 points and the Jayhawks bested K-State 59-55 on Wednesday night at Bramlage Coliseum. KU took an early 16-8 lead with an 11:28 left in the first half. The Cats would counter with an 11-2 spurt to lead 19-18 over the course of the next five minutes, but the Jayhawks went ahead 31-27 at halftime.
In the second half, KU built a 53-43 lead with 6:53 to play in the game when freshman Ben McLemore scored five points in a row. But the Cats’ Shane Southwell scored eight of his career-high 19 points in a 10-3 run, and K-State got within a single possession at 56-53 with 37 seconds left. KU’s Naadir Tharpe knocked down a pair of free throws, while Rodney McGruder also hit a pair to push it back to 58-55 with 0:05 remaining. The Jayhawks’ Elijah Johnson then connected on one of two free throws to ice the game, and Southwell’s last second prayer landed short.
Southwell was joined in double figures for K-State (15-3, 4-1) by McGruder with 13 points, and Angel Rodriguez added 12 points to go with eight assists. McLemore and Jeff Withey each had 11 points for Kansas (17-1, 5-0). Withey had a double-double with 10 rebounds.
K-State hits the road on Saturday to Iowa State for a 12:45pm tipoff at Hilton Coliseum. Pregame from Ames on the K-State Sports Network begins at 11:30 on SportsRadio 1350 KMAN and 101.5 K-Rock.
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