Kansas State overcame a cold start with a 19-1 run to finish the first half of a 67-54 victory over Gardner-Webb Wednesday night, sending the Wildcats to their best start under coach Bruce Weber.
Kamau Stokes and D.J. Johnson combined to score 19 of their team’s first 24 points and finished with 18 and 16, respectively.
“I thought we did some nice things, but we had some guys who were thinking about going home for Christmas,” Weber said. “Tonight we didn’t have everyone in sync.”
The Wildcats found their stride late in the first half. Trailing 23-22 with seven minutes until the break, K-State buckled down defensively, holding the Runnin’ Bulldogs without a field goal for the remainder of the period. Stokes provided the spark offensively and finished the half with 12 points.
“He was our catalyst in that 19-1 run,” Weber said. “He was injured early on, and he was scared he had tweaked his knee, but he came back in and provided some leadership for us.”
Gardner-Webb, which won at Nebraska in its last game, began the second half red-hot from long range, closing its deficit to as little as eight points. But the Wildcat defense stiffened again and G-W never got the game back to single-digits the rest of the way.
“We guarded the heck out of them,” Weber said. “I thought our double-teams bothered them. But we had a couple guys playing tired.”
Jamaal Robateau scored 17 points to lead G-W.
K-State has more than a week off before it hosts Texas to open Big 12 play on Dec. 30.
“It’ll be good for all of our guys to go home and get some rest, and then when we come back, hopefully we’ll have some fresh minds and some fresh legs,” Weber said.
