(Photo Courtesy of Kansas State Athletics)
WICHITA, Kan. (AP)– Justin Edwards and Wesley Iwundu combined to score 19 second-half points, leading Kansas State over Colorado State 61-56 on Saturday.
Dean Wade scored all of his 13 points in the first half for Kansas State (8-2). Edwards finished with 12 points while Iwundu added 11.
Emmanuel Omogbo had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Colorado State (6-5). Prentiss Nixon scored 11 for the Rams, and Tiel Daniels had 10.
Colorado State played without senior guard, Gian Clavell, who averages 20.8 points. Clavell has an injured left hand.
Clavell’s absence was most felt during the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Down just four at halftime, Colorado State scored only four points during those 10 minutes. There were airballs. There was a shot-clock violation. There was an airballed 15-foot shot to create a shot-clock violation.
Colorado State made just one of its first 13 shots in the second half. The Rams missed 12 straight 3-point attempts over a 23-minute span.
All from a team that entered the game averaging 86.5 points.
Kansas State used the drought to build its lead. A methodical 10-1 run over nearly eight minutes gave the Wildcats a 43-30 lead, concluding with Carlbe Ervin’s three-point play with 9:52 remaining in the game.
But the Wildcats then went on a long dry spell of their own, not making a field goal for more than five minutes and running their streak of missed 3-pointers to nine.
Six free throws in that span helped the Rams cut the Kansas State lead to two, 48-46, on a Prentiss Nixon 3-pointer with 4:15 remaining.
The Wildcats responded with seven points in 62 seconds, including a Stephen Hurt 3-pointer and an Iwundu baseline drive that gave the Wildcats a 55-48 lead with 2:40 to play.
Kansas State did not lead by less than four the rest of the way.
The Rams stayed in the game early with 3-point shots. Two 3-pointers from Joe Di Ciman were followed by two 3-pointers by Nixon, the last one giving Colorado State a 12-11 lead with 11:19 remaining in the half.
Kansas State scored six straight points for a 22-17 lead, but Colorado State had a 6-0 run of its own capped by John Gillon’s driving basket that gave the Rams a 25-24 lead with 2:32 to play in the half.
But the Wildcats scored the half’s final five points for a 29-25 halftime advantage.
