Jason Carter’s basket as time expired completed an improbable comeback as Texas Southern which entered Sunday’s game against Kansas State with just two wins on the season won its second road contest in nine days against a Power Five Conference opponent with a 58-56 victory before a shocked crowd at Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the game with Marcus Foster leading the way with five points which included a slam dunk. Kansas State extended the lead to 15-5 before the Tigers led by former Indiana coach Mike Davis started to chip away cutting the advantage to 17-13 with 5:36 left in the first half. A Foster three-pointer upped the lead to seven points once again but the Tigers closed the first half on an 8-3 run and K-State’s halftime lead was 23-21.
Texas Southern which defeated Michigan State in overtime last weekend in East Lansing grabbed its first lead of the game at 28-27 when Chris Thomas completed a three-point play early in the second half. Then for a few minutes the teams traded baskets before the Tigers used a 10-3 run to lead 43-36 with 10:32 remaining. Then K-State stormed back into the lead with a 9-0 surge of its own starting with a three-pointer by Jevon Thomas followed by a Justin Edwards layup, a Stephen Hurt layup and then a thunderous dunk by Foster that may have triggered the loudest reaction from Wildcat fans all season as K-State led 45-43 with 6:22 left.
K-State would extend the lead to 48-43 on an alley-oop dunk by Edwards but the Tigers would not go away as they closed to within 49-48 with 2:24 left. K-State despite missing several free throws down the stretch managed to hold a 56-52 lead with 15 seconds left in the game after Nino Williams sank his second free throw attempt after missing his first. That would prove to be a big difference as things got crazy in the final seconds.
Texas Southern’s Tonnie Collier attempted a three-point basket with two seconds left but missed it as he was fouled by Jevon Thomas, giving him three free throw attempts. Collier made the first two shots to cut the lead to 56-54 before K-State Coach Bruce Weber called the Wildcats’ final timeout to discuss blocking out of the lane in the event of a missed free throw. Collier did miss that third attempt but his teammate Chris Thomas alertly rebounded the ball and tied the score on a layup as time appeared to run out. After a replay, the officials put nine-tenths of a second back on the clock and K-State would have the chance to inbound the ball for a final shot.
However, the Wildcats threw the inbounds pass away without any time running off the clock allowing the Tigers one final chance. That’s when Carter took the pass from Madarious Gibbs in the lane and hit the jumper at the buzzer. Although video replay clearly showed Carter released the ball before time ran out, the officiating crew took a few minutes to review the play before confirming the Texas Southern win.
Foster led K-State with 17 points while Williams added 11. Gibbs and Thomas were the scoring leaders for Texas Southern with 15 points apiece. Two statistics stand out as K-State’s downfall on Sunday: One was that they were out-rebounded by Texas Southern 32-23 and 11-4 on the offensive glass and the other is the fact they missed 12 of 20 free throw attempts. The Wildcats also suffered their fifth loss before New Year’s Day for the first time since the 2001-02 season.
Kansas State (7-5) will wrap up non-conference play on Wednesday with a New Year’s Eve matinee against Southeastern Conference opponent Georgia at Bramlage Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.
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