Marcus Foster scored 17 points and newcomer Justin Edwards netted 14 as Kansas State overcame sloppy play at times to defeat Washburn in their lone exhibition tune-up 68-56 Sunday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.
Foster, who made a huge impact during his Freshman campaign last year opened the scoring with a three-point basket as K-State jumped out to an early 10-1 advantage. The Ichabods out of Division II then used a 10-4 run to cut K-State’s lead to 14-11 with 10:45 left in the first half. The Wildcats then used another 10-point burst to lead 24-11 with 6:25 remaining in the half on Edwards’ first three-pointer in a K-State uniform.
The Wildcats led 32-19 before Washburn’s Turon Parker hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to make the halftime score 32-22.
Washburn started strong by scoring the first four points of the second half forcing K-State coach Bruce Weber to call a timeout, but the Cats righted the ship and used a 13-6 run to lead 45-32 with 11:56 left in the game on a jumper by another newcomer, Stephen Hurt. For the rest of the game, Washburn could draw no closer than eight points and K-State led by as many as 17 points before settling for the 12-point win.
Other notable scorers for K-State included Hurt with 12 points, Nigel Johnson and Thomas Gipson with nine apiece and four points from Jevon Thomas. The Wildcats were without several players who are still coming off injuries or offsesaon surgery including Wesley Iwundu, D.J. Johnson, Nino Williams and newcomer Malek Harris. Alex North was the leading scorer for Washburn with nine points.
K-State will open the 2014-15 season on Friday night at Bramlage Coliseum against Southern Utah in an 8 p.m. tipoff which follows the Women’s season opener at 5:30 p.m. against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
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