Kansas State Wildcats Stun a Second Ranked Team in 5 Days
It was all the crowd could do to refrain from again storming the court following a second straight Big 12 basketball win over a ranked team by the Kansas State Wildcats.
The Kansas State Wildcats trailed for practically the entire game, but they found a way to pull it out late against No. 12 Iowa State, giving the Wildcat home crowd a second thrilling victory in the same week.
Iowa State led by nine points at the half and stretched the lead to 12 early in the second half. Kansas State slowly whittled away at the Cyclone lead throughout the second half, and finally drew even for the first time almost 59 minutes into the game.
Kansas State’s Wesley Iwundu made a layup with 44 seconds to go in the game to give the Wildcat their first lead at 68-66. Monte Morris of Iowa State put his team back ahead by a point with an old-fashioned three-point play (field goal plus a converted foul shot).
Justin Edwards missed a shot on the K-State possession after Morris’ three-point play, but seconds later Iwundu picked off a pass by the Cyclones’ Georges Niang and stormed to the rim with a lead-changing dunk that brought the house and put Kansas State up by a single point with 18 seconds remaining in the game.
That turned out to be the game-winning score, as Iowa State failed to convert in the closing seconds. Kansas State closed out its home season with the win the Wildcats seventh of the season at home against Big 12 foes and their second this week against a team in the top 15.
For the second straight game, sophomore Nigel Johnson led Kansas State in scoring, putting in 17 points off the bench against Iowa State. The Wildcats’ two leading scorers in the game both did so coming off the bench. Reserve guard Justin Edwards added 16 more for the Wildcats.
Kansas State outscored the Iowa State bench by a whopping 37-3. The Wildcat bench scoring, candidly, is what kept K-State in this game and gave the Cats a chance to win at the end.
Niang led the Cyclones with 21 points, 15 coming on three-point shots, and Morris contributed 15 points.
