by @Alec_Busse
Nae’Qwan Tomlin had the best game of his young career in the Wildcats’ final nonconference game of 2022, helping K-State secure its 11th win of the season by the score of 73-65.
The first half was tightly contested with neither team creating a lead of more than eight points. Radford started the game with a 2-0 lead after scoring on their first possession, but K-State quickly responded to take a 3-2 lead after Nae’Qwan Tomlin buried a corner 3-point attempt.
Radford, though, would respond to eventually take an 8-3 lead after a layup by Daquan Smith. K-State responded to eventually take a 20-15 lead when Desi Sills hit two consecutive 3-pointers for the Wildcats with about 10 minutes left in the first half. K-State then went about three minutes with just two points, which allowed Radford to retake the lead after Bryan Antoine hit a 3-pointer to put the Highlanders ahead by one.
In the final five minutes, Tomlin asserted himself for the Wildcats. He had a dunk and a layup in short order, but was also able to secure a defensive rebound and kept an offensive possession alive by tipping the basketball out to a waiting Markquis Nowell who would hit a 3-pointer with 2:49 left in the first half to put K-State ahead by six at 29-23.
Radford would close the half on a 5-0 run to make the halftime score 31-28, K-State. Kenyon Giles’ buried a 3-pointer while the K-State defense was caught scrambling in open space.
The second half of the game was tightly contested until the Wildcats went on an 8-0 run midway through the half to open up a 15-point lead. Keyontae Johnson, who struggled for much of the game, converted on a trio of buckets in the paint. Tomlin had a dunk in the midst of the run, too.
The Wildcats’ lead was stretched all the way to 15 points with about 4:15 left in the game, which is when Nowell threw a half-court lob to Johnson for a two-handed alley-oop jam. It was Nowell’s 10th assist of the game.
Nowell is one of the lead assist men in the country this season, and the double-digit assists against Radford is the fourth time this season that he has finished with at least 10 assists. Previously, he had 12 assists vs. Nevada, 11 assists vs. LSU and a dozen more vs. Abilene Christian on Dec. 6.
K-State faltered in the final minutes of the game, which allowed Radford to shrink the Wildcats’ double-digit lead down to six points by going on a 13-2 run that took more than 3:14 off the block.
K-State contributed to the Radford run by turning it over three times in a 1:30 minute span late in the game. Nowell contributed two of his season-high assists in the final minutes.
With the win, K-State continues the best start in program history.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Nae’Qwan Tomlin had one of his best games of the season on Wednesday. Tomlin had 11 points in the first half and five rebounds, which all came on the offensive glass. Tomlin started the game with a 3-pointer in the corner for the Wildcats and he continued positive momentum after the triple.
His energy for much of the game was infectious for the Wildcats. At one point in the second half, Tomlin threw down a posterizing dunk over a Radford defender that put K-State up 13. The dunk came in the midst of a Wildcat run that allowed K-State to create some separation. But with about 6:10 left in the game, Tomlin had an even more impressive dunk on an alley-oop lob from Keyontae Johnson that was thrown down with an aggressive right hand.
Tomlin finished the game with a career-high 26 points in the Wildcats’ win. It is the first time in Tomlin’s K-State career that he has finished with at least 20 points. Tomlin also grabbed nine rebounds in the win, which ties a season-high for the former JUCO product.
BEBE COMES BACK
Bebe Iyiola returned to K-STate’s rotation on Wednesday after missing every game since the Wildcats beat LSU in the Cayman Islands Classic on Nov. 23. Iyiola had been dealing with a foot injury, but he began working back towards playing in previous weeks.
Iyiola came off the bench for K-State in the first half and played five minutes for the Wildcats. In his five first-half minutes, he provided the Cats with a pair of rebounds and an emphatic blocked shot that went soaring into the stands. He did, however, miss a pair of layups and he failed to haul in a pass on a backdoor cut from Nowell.
UP NEXT
Kansas State now gets to enjoy an extended holiday break. The Wildcats don’t play again until Dec. 31 when they against West Virginia at Bramlage Coliseum to open Big 12 play. The Mountaineers are off to a 9-2 start on the season with high major victories against Pitt and Florida. West Virginia’s two losses on the season are against Purdue — who is still undefeated — and Xavier.
