17 missed throws came back to bite K-State as they were shocked by Northern Colorado 60-58 in the season opener at Bramlage Coliseum on Friday night. The Cats shot 7 of 16 from the line in the first half, when they saw the Bears go on a 7-0 run to rally from a 29-17 deficit with 2:16 left before the break. K-State maintained their lead in the second half until UNC tied it on a Jordan Willis layup with 13:14 to go that was part of a 13-3 burst. A Will Spradling three-pointer and DJ Johnson bucket gave the Cats their final lead at 42-41 with just over 10 minutes remaining. The Bears held the lead nearly the rest of the way except when K-State tied it at 51, but that was followed by five straight tallies from Northern Colorado. While the Bears didn’t hit all their free throws to give the Cats a chance late, Northern Colorado would hit the glass on the offensive end twice after misses at the stripe. Freshman forward Wesley Iwundu made a layup with 1.2 seconds left to pull K-State within two points, however Northern Colorado ran out the clock on the inbound.
Iwundu put up a double-double in his Wildcat debut with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Johnson added 12 points and 9 rebounds. Shane Southwell didn’t start, and even though he only contributed seven points, he led K-State (0-1) with eight assists. Thomas Gipson missed the game, and Coach Bruce Weber says it remains to be seen when the junior big man will return to the lineup.
Derrick Barden put Northern Colorado (1-0) on his back as he scored 16 points and snagged 17 rebounds.
K-State will be back in action on Wednesday night when they host Oral Roberts at 7:00pm at Bramlage Coliseum. Pregame will get underway at 6:00pm on 101.5 K-Rock and NewsRadio 1350 KMAN from the K-State Sports Network.
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