AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – – Barry Brown and Xavier Sneed each scored 16 points, and No. 18 Kansas State beat Texas 71-64 Tuesday night for its ninth straight Big 12 victory.
Three other Wildcats scored in double figures, Dean Wade with 12 points, and Kamau Stokes and Makol Mawien with 11 apiece.
Kerwin Roach led Texas with 17 points, and Courtney Ramey added 10.
Kansas State (19-5, 9-2 in Big 12) converted nearly 55 percent of its field goal attempts, including 56.5 in the second half.
The Wildcats used runs of 8-0 and 9-0 in the second half before seven minutes were gone, the latter giving the Wildcats a seven-point lead. Even so, they could not shake Texas. A long 3-pointer by Kamau Stokes with 4:30 left gave them their second seven-point lead of the half.
Texas (14-11, 6-6), trying to cut the deficit to two with 3:02 left, used too much of the 30-second shot clock, Jaxson Hayes’ basket ruled to be too late after the officials went to replay.
Roach committed three turnovers in the first six minutes of the game, but he eventually made a star turn, scoring 14 points in the first half, primarily with hard drives to the basket that resulted in layups and free throws.
Ramey added all 10 of his points for Texas in the half, and the Longhorns led 39-35 at the break.
Roach slowed down in the second half, scoring just three points and committing three more turnovers.
Kansas State played without guard Cartier Diarra, its top reserve who recently suffered a broken finger on his shooting hand that will require surgery. He’s out indefinitely.
BIG PICTURE
Kansas State: The Wildcats maintained their hold on first place in the Big 12 standings. One reason is a 5-1 record on the road in conference games, an area in which they have improved the last three seasons. They are 13-11 in Big 12 road games since the beginning of 2016-17. In the previous two seasons they were 2-16 in Big 12 road games. Kansas State did get a break when Baylor was missing two starting guards, including leading scorer Makai Mason, on Saturday.
Texas: The Longhorns, a really poor 3-point shooting team earlier in the season, have recently improved, but they still ranked only 227th nationally before Tuesday with 33.4 percent accuracy. They made 17 of 43 (39.5 percent) in two games before facing Kansas State, so perhaps they were due for a bad game. They had one, hitting 4 of 19 against the Wildcats.
UP NEXT
Kansas State hosts Iowa State on Saturday. The Wildcats beat the Cyclones 58-57 on Jan. 12 in Ames. Barry Brown Jr. hit the game winning driving shot with four seconds remaining.
Texas hosts Oklahoma State on Saturday. Texas lost to the Cowboys 61-58 on Jan. 8 in Stillwater, stopping their momentum after a 2-0 start in Big 12 play and starting a three-game losing streak.
— Associated Press —
ST. JOSEPH – Once again, forecasted weather has resulted in significant changes to the Missouri Western spring sports schedules. Griffon Baseball postponed its home-opening series with St. Cloud State due to forecasted cold temperatures this coming weekend. Griffon Softball saw its scheduled weekend at the Alvy Early Memorial Classic re-written and moved.
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