College – Page 457 – St. Joseph Post Archive

Kansas State’s upset bid comes up short against No. 2 Arizona

Posted on November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Arizona came to Maui to face adversity. There was some back in the desert through the first four games, though most of that was self-inflicted.

Faced with their first big challenge of the season, the third-ranked Wildcats went toe-to-toe with Kansas State and put themselves on the brink of a tournament title.

Kaleb Tarczewski scored 18 points, Gabe York added 15 and No. 3 Arizona hung on to win its first close game of the season, beating Kansas State 72-68 Tuesday in the Maui Invitational semifinals.

“We’re very, very proud of tonight’s win,” coach Sean Miller said. “We feel like we beat a great team, and that’s why you come to Maui: to challenge (yourself).”

Arizona (5-0) rolled through its first four games despite some slow starts and shot 53 percent against Kansas State, yet couldn’t shake the scrappy Wildcats.

Trailing by nine in the second half, Kansas State (3-2) whittled the lead down to a single possession in the final minute behind Marcus Foster.

Arizona rose to the challenge.

Freshman forward Stanley Johnson spent most of the second half in foul trouble, but came up with some of the biggest plays down the stretch. He had a key steal and hit three free throws in the closing seconds, finishing with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Tarczewski held his own against Kansas State’s hulking duo of Stephen Hurt and Thomas Gipson, making seven of nine shots while playing steady post defense

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had two monster dunks midway through the second half and hit two free throws with 4 seconds left to seal Arizona’s victory.

Next up is a chance to win the program’s second Maui Invitational on Wednesday night at Lahaina Civic Center.

“It kind of shows how resilient this team is,” said Arizona point guard T.J. McConnell, who had seven points and six assists. “The score was going back and forth, and you weren’t really sure which way the score was going to go. I mean, we just played hard.”

So did Kansas State, which held on down the stretch to beat Purdue in its Maui opener and didn’t wilt under Arizona’s pressure.

K-State answered nearly every time Arizona tried to pull away, mainly behind Foster.

He held the Wildcats together against Purdue and had 23 points against Arizona, going 6 for 9 from 3-point range.

Kansas State is headed to the third-place game, but had no reason to be down after keeping up with the No. 3 team in the country.

“I told them if we play like yesterday and today, we’re going to beat a lot of good teams,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said.

Arizona has been plagued by slow starts this season, and the Maui opener against Missouri was no different. The Wildcats, as they did in previous games, pulled away in the second half for a 19-point win — but they probably couldn’t have afforded another uninspired start against Kansas State.

In their tournament opener, the Wildcats jumped on Purdue early and kept the Boilermakers at arm’s length in the second half to pull out a physical victory.

A fast start was no problem for either team in the semifinals.

Playing quickly in both directions, Arizona and Kansas State traded athletic plays — Johnson’s tomahawk dunk down the lane was a highlight — and baskets in an entertaining opening 10 minutes.

Neither team was able to get much separation, and the half ended with Hurt jamming in a putback at the buzzer to pull Kansas State to 31-30.

The second half continued the same way until McConnell and York hit consecutive 3-pointers to put Arizona up 52-43 midway through.

Kansas State clawed its way back, pulling to 66-64 on a 3-pointer by Foster with 2:30 left.

K-State kept fighting back each time, but couldn’t complete the comeback as Arizona hit six of eight free throws in the final 22 seconds.

“Just some little plays here and there that we could have easily found a way to win it,” Weber said. “Just a little more discipline and some little execution.”

TIP-INS

Kansas State: Foster is a combined 16 for 28 the past two games after going 1 for 13 in a loss to Long Beach State.

Arizona: Johnson was called for two fouls 90 seconds into the second half and had to sit down with four. He returned 6 minutes later for a short stint and came back with 7:15 left. … Hollis-Jefferson had six points and eight rebounds.

UP NEXT

Kansas State faces Pittsburgh in Wednesday’s third-place game.

Arizona will play No. 15 San Diego State in Wednesday night’s title game.

ARIZONA’S FREE THROWS

Arizona has struggled shooting free throws most of the season, but had a good night against K-State. The Wildcats made 20 of 28 and hit the big ones they needed down the stretch.

— Associated Press —

Shields leads Nebraska past Omaha, 80-67

Posted on November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska coach Tim Miles was quick to spell out the key to Nebraska’s 80-67 come-from-behind win over Omaha on Tuesday.

“The story of the night is what Shavon did,” Miles said. Shavon is Shavon Shields, who scored a career-high 35 points to lead the Huskers past Omaha.

Shields scored 21 of those points in the first half to pull Nebraska out of a first half deficit and into a lead it never relinquished.

“I just tried to play within the offense and take shots as they came,” Shields said. “They were falling tonight. I didn’t change anything. Sometimes it takes us awhile to get going. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to find a way to play with urgency. We didn’t do that at the start of the game.”

Nebraska (3-1) trailed by as many as 16 early but opened up a double-digit lead late in the first half.

Omaha (2-2) cut the Nebraska lead to 47-43 on C.J. Carter’s layup with 13:15 left.

Shields then hit Nebraska’s first field goal of the second half and followed that with a 3-pointer to push the Husker lead back to 52-43 with 12:25 remaining. Nebraska went up 61-50 on Shields 3-pointer with 9 minutes left. Omaha didn’t get any closer down the stretch.

Omaha opened the game hot, hitting eight of its first nine shots, four of them 3-pointers, in the first five minutes to take a 23-7 lead. Nebraska, which made just 1 of its first 10 free throws, stormed back with a 23-2 run to take a 30-25 lead on Terran Petteway’s breakaway dunk with 6:21 remaining in the half.

The Huskers never trailed again, going up 40-29 after a pair of Shields free throws with 2:36 left in the half. Omaha scored just 11 points in the final 15 minutes of the first half.

“I thought we needed a quick start and we got that,” said Omaha coach Derrin Hansen. “I thought our guys played with a lot of confidence. I thought defensively, we were really dialed in. As the first half wore on, we weren’t quite as good on our switches…. The second half, I liked our fight.”

The Huskers, Miles said, may have come out flat because of Saturday’s overtime loss at Rhode Island. But they also took a punch from the Mavericks.

“They made some tough shots,” Miles said. “We also made some defensive errors. After that we got our heads calmed down. We’re not four minutes into it and they’ve got 21 points. I’m like `what’s the record…Then we got 11 straight stops. That’s not bad defense after you’ve given up 23 (points) in 12 (possessions)”

And Miles had Shields, his most consistent performer this season, playing at the top of his game.

“I’m scared to think of the consequences of him not being steady, if he was EKGing like the rest of them,” Miles said. “He’s really been the rock for us, our go-to guy.”

Devin Patterson had 20 points to lead Omaha. Carter finished with 13 points for the Mavericks and Tyus had 12.

Petteway had 20 points and 12 rebounds and Tai Webster added 10, all of them in the second half, for Nebraska.

TIP INS

Nebraska: The 16-point comeback matches Nebraska’s largest at Pinnacle Bank Arena (vs. Indiana on Jan. 30, 2014). Shields’ 35 points ties the PBA record, held be Pittway against Minnesota on Jan. 26. The Huskers are 18-1 in PBA. Their only loss in the arena, which opened at the start of the 2013-2014 season, was to Michigan, 71-70 on Jan. 9.

Omaha: Formerly known as Nebraska-Omaha, the Mavericks have never defeated Nebraska. The Mavericks are either 0-3 or 0-4 against the Huskers, depending on who’s counting. Nebraska’s 2006 win over UNO counted for the Huskers. It was an exhibition game for the Mavericks.

UP NEXT

Nebraska hosts Tennessee-Martin Friday

Omaha hosts Nevada Saturday

— Associated Press —

Northwest women roll to big win against Saint Mary

Posted on November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

Midway through the first half, Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball team built a 10-point lead against Saint Mary and then saw it shrink to one.

A basket by freshman Elizabeth Finn got the Bearcats rolling and rolling and rolling to an impressive 78-33 victory Tuesday evening at Bearcat Arena.

“We talked about doing our job, everybody stepping up and doing their job and people not trying to do other people’s job,” Northwest coach Michael Smith said. “Tonight was about us. It wasn’t about our opponent.

“In the first half, we played pretty timid. The second half opened my eyes up a lot as far as getting up and down the floor and pushing it.”

From the tail end of the first half through the first 6 minutes of the second half, Northwest scored 23 straight points, turning a 19-18 advantage to an insurmountable 42-18 lead.

The Bearcats continued to pour it on over the next 10 minutes, winning their second game of the season over the Spires from Leavenworth, Kan.

Northwest’s other win this season came against Saint Mary from Nebraska.

The impressive thing about Tuesday’s victory was the way the Bearcats executed on offense once St. Mary challenged them.

Northwest did nothing special to methodically build a 16-6 lead at the start of the game. A lack of execution on offense allowed St. Mary to close to 19-18.

“At that 4 minute timeout, we came out with a lot of energy,” said senior guard Ariel Easton. “We came out and brought energy from every aspect.”

In the last 4 minutes of the first half, the offense clicked for the Bearcats. Good ball movement created open shots. After Finn’s basket, junior guard Taylor Shull made a basket.

A few seconds later, sophomore forward Ashley Guenther hit a 5-foot, baseline jumper and then Easton drained a three-pointer. The half ended with a three-pointer by Shull, making it 31-18.

Northwest continued its strong offensive play at the start of the second half. The scoring started with a bucket from junior center Maggie Marnin.

“Looking into the post is something we need to do,” Easton said. “We did it tonight and we got to continue to carry on with it throughout the season.”

In all, five different players scored for the Bearcats in their 11-0 spurt to start the second half.

It is significant that Marnin had two baskets during that run. Marnin is playing her way back into game shape after missing the entire season last year because of an ACL injury.

“It felt good getting back,” Marnin said. “Coach pulled me aside and told me I was the biggest girl on the floor. Most girls won’t take that so well. I saw that as his confidence in me and wanting me to step up and help the team win.”

The huge lead allowed Smith to use his entire bench. Every player played at least 8 minutes and 11 players scored, led by 15 from junior Tember Schechinger and 12 from Easton. Sophomore center Shelby Mustain also scored in double figures, finishing with 10.

“I thought it was a well-balanced offense in the second half,” Smith said.

Schechinger tied a career-high in three pointers, making three in five attempts.

“She has been struggling from the confidence standpoint, too,” Smith said. “She went three for five for threes and she hadn’t attempted a three in our first five games and she had the same type looks. She didn’t feel as much pressure.

Northwest returns to action 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Bearcat Arena against Rogers State (Okla.).

“Hopefully, we can maintain this when we come back after we eat a bunch of turkey and see if we can keep the same type of intensity,” Smith said.

— David Boyce, Northwest Athletics —

Benedictine women knock off Bethel; Ziesel scores game-high 18

Posted on November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

The Benedictine women’s basketball team returned home on Tuesday night for their first game inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium since Nov. 8.

Benedictine (4-4) moved back to .500 on the season with a nine-point win over Bethel (Kan.) College, 65-56.

After playing to a tie at 30 points at halftime, the Ravens used a 15 for 20 effort at the charity stripe in the second half to overcome a slow start to the final 20 minutes and earn the win.

Benedictine turned a five-point lead at the midpoint of the first half into a 27-13 advantage with six minutes and 21 seconds left in the first half.

Bethel responded outscoring the Ravens 17-3 over the final six minutes of the half to pull the score even at halftime.

Both teams converted 33.3 percent from the floor in the first half with the Threshers knocking down one more field goal.

In the second half, Bethel went to full-court pressure that forced Benedictine into back-to-back turnovers which led to an early four-point advantage for the Threshers.

The lead changed hands six times in the second half before Benedictine’s Lexi Villegas went to the line for the bonus with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

Benedictine converted on 13 of 17 free throws over the final five minutes of the game and got a basket in the paint from Jayde Reid with three minutes and 23 seconds remaining to remain in front of Bethel and earn the win.

Jackie Ziesel scored a game-high 18 points for the Ravens to lead three players in double figures. Chayla Rutledge scored 14 points followed by Alexa Taff with 10. Reid added 7 points off a 3 for 3 effort from the floor while Villegas finished with 6 points as she went 6 fof 6 from the charity stripe.

Bethel was led in scoring by the 14 points of April Harpe.

Benedictine finished the game hitting 24 of 30 at the free throw line as they converted a new season high for made free throws. The Ravens also forced the Threshers in to 24 turnovers, setting a new single-game high for opponent turnovers. Those 24 turnovers led directly to 20 points as the Ravens finished the game with a 20-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Ravens remain at home for their next game, at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 2 as they host the College of St. Mary.

— BC Sports Information —

Huskers’ Abdullah named Doak Walker Award finalist

Posted on November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

Nebraska senior I-back Ameer Abdullah has been named one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation’s top running back.

Abdullah is joined as finalists by fellow Big Ten running backs Tevin Coleman of Indiana and Melvin Gordon of Wisconsin. With the trio of Big Ten running backs being selected as finalists, it marks the first time in the 25-year history of the award that all three finalists are from the same conference. The finalists were determined by a vote of the Doak Walker National Selection Committee.

The recipient of the 2014 Doak Walker Award will be announced on ESPN during The Home Depot College Football Awards from Orlando on Thursday, Dec. 11.

Abdullah is the third Nebraska running back to be named a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, joining Calvin Jones (1993) and Ahman Green (1997).

A native of Homewood, Ala., Abdullah has rushed for 1,417 yards this season, including four 200-yard rushing games, despite being limited by a knee injury over the past three games. Abdullah ranks among the top 10 in the country in rushing yards per game, all-purpose yards per game and scoring.

Abdullah has set a Nebraska career record with 6,798 all-purpose yards, a total that ranks second in Big Ten history. Abdullah was a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award as a junior in 2013.

In addition to being a Doak Walker Award finalist, Abdullah is a finalist for four other national awards, including the Senior CLASS Award, the Wuerffel Trophy, the Paul Hornung Award and the Pop Warner College Football Award.

Off the field, Abdullah is set to graduate in December, completing his degree work at Nebraska in 3 ½ years.

— NU Sports Information —

Griffon men fall at Upper Iowa 82-70 for first loss

Posted on November 25, 2014November 25, 2014

The Missouri Western men’s basketball team lost their first game of 2014, falling at Upper Iowa Monday night 82-70.

The Griffons shot 42 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from three-point range after going just 1-11 from behind the arc in the first half. The Peacocks led by as many as 23 points in the second half.

Three Griffons scored double-figures. Aaaron Emmanuel led the way with 14. Currie Byrd scored 13 and pulled down seven rebounds while Dareon Jones added 11 points.

Missouri Western is 2-1 on the season and will stay on the road this weekend when they travel to Springfield, Missouri for the Doubletree Houlihan’s Thanksgiving Classic at Drury University. They play East Central (OK) at 1:00 PM Friday and the game will be broadcast on 680 KFEQ AM.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Dewey leads Missouri Western women past Mid-America Nazarene

Posted on November 25, 2014

The Missouri Western Women’s Basketball team moved to 3-1 on the season with a 76-69 win over MidAmerica Nazarene Tuesday night in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

The Griffons stretched a 37-31 halftime lead to a 17-point lead with 15 minutes left in the game. Missouri Western led by 14 with 3:35 to go but the Pioneers outscored MWSU 13-5 over the game’s last three minutes to pull within seven.

The two teams combined for 48 total turnovers with MidAmerica Nazarene committing 26. The Griffons shot 43.5 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from behind the arc. Chelsea Dewey paced the Griffons with 17 points with LaQuinta Jefferson adding 16 and Sarafina Handy scoring 12. Tiara Hall just missed a double-double with 11 rebounds and nine points.

Missouri Western returns to the fieldhouse this weekend when they host the Inaugural Holiday Inn Express Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Griffons take on Evangel on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and Maryville University on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Mizzou can’t keep up with No. 2 Arizona in Maui

Posted on November 25, 2014

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Slow starts and strong finishes are nothing new to Arizona. The Wildcats did it in three games on the mainland and started the Maui Invitational the same way.

They better get it fixed fast with the competition ramping up over the next two days.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley each scored 15 points, helping No. 3 Arizona wear down Missouri for a 72-53 victory in the opening round of the Maui Invitational on Monday.

“That initial surge out of the gates of playing well at both ends, I don’t know if we’ve really done that,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “I can also flip it and make it a positive, because like every team at this time of the year, you’re in search of getting better and improving. Today is another step for our team.”

Arizona (4-0) got off to slow starts in two of its first three games and wasn’t exactly sharp early against the Tigers.

The Wildcats struggled to hit shots from the perimeter and were at times disjointed offensively before a short spurt put them up five a halftime.

They made up for it on defense, holding Missouri (2-2) to 36 percent shooting, including 2 of 13 from 3-point range.

Freshman Stanley Johnson had 14 points for Arizona and T.J. McConnell nine assists to offset a 2-for-11 game from the floor.

“I’m going to take something that coach has said in the past: A great defensive team is never selfish,” Ashley said. “What that means basically is that if somebody gets beat, you’re going to be there to help them out.”

Missouri kept it close in the first half in the first half behind its defense.

The Tigers let the game get away from them because they couldn’t hold onto the ball on offense.

Missouri had 17 turnovers that led to 24 points for Arizona, dooming any hope of keeping up with the Wildcats.

Montaque Gill-Caesar led the Tigers with 13 points.

“We didn’t make the correct passes and (it was) the pressure, so we can’t really blame one thing — it was both,” said Missouri’s Keith Shamburger, who had 11 points.

Arizona pulled away in the second half to beat Mount St. Mary’s and UC Irvine before heading to Maui.

The young Tigers opened the season with a frustrating 69-61 loss to Missouri-Kansas City, but bounced back with victories over Valparaiso and Oral Roberts. Missouri showed off its shooting prowess against Oral Roberts, hitting 8 of 9 3-pointers in second half to pull away from Oral Roberts for a 78-64 win.

Neither team could hit much of anything early in Maui.

Arizona has struggled from the perimeter this season and it continued against the active Tigers. The Wildcats missed their first eight 3-pointers before getting a couple to drop late in the first half to take a 32-25 lead.

The Tigers had trouble with Arizona’s length and athleticism, struggling to get good looks inside and clanking a couple of long 3-pointers high off the glass. Missouri shot 8 of 24 in the first half.

Arizona started to find the range a bit by getting the ball inside, hitting five of its first 10 shots to build the lead to 11 early in the second half.

The Wildcats kept dropping shots — 11 of 23 in the half — but kept stretching the lead for a spot in the Maui semifinals.

“We played some different defenses to see if we could slow them down a little bit, but they’re a great team and it won’t work forever,” Missouri coach Kim Anderson said. “But it worked for a while.”

—

TIP-INS

Missouri: Wes Clark, who averaged 14 points through the first three games, had three points on 1-of-6 shooting.

Arizona: Arizona hit 19 of 25 free throws for its best performance from the line this season. … The Wildcats hit a couple of shots late to finish 5 for 16 from 3-point range.

UP NEXT

Missouri: will face Purdue in the Maui Invitational loser’s bracket on Tuesday.

Arizona: plays Kansas State in the tournament semifinals on Tuesday.

RONDAE’S ROLE

Miller has used Hollis-Jefferson in the sixth man role this season because he likes the spark the high-energy sophomore provides off the bench. With Arizona in a bit of a lull most of the first half, Miller swapped out Gabe York for Hollis-Jefferson to start the second. RHJ, as he’s known, scored five quick points, including his first 3-pointer of the season, to help spark Arizona’s run in the second half.

MISSOURI REBOUNDING

Arizona has been one of the nation’s best rebounding teams over the past few seasons and have a long, athletic team that’s difficult to grab boards against. Though a bit smaller than the Wildcats, Missouri was able to out-rebound Arizona 34-32, including eight offensive rebounds.

— Associated Press —

No. 11 Jayhawks bounce back against Rider

Posted on November 25, 2014

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Brannen Greene and the Kansas Jayhawks couldn’t wait to get back on the court after an embarassing loss to Kentucky.

Greene scored 17 points off the bench, Perry Ellis also had 17 and No. 11 Kansas beat Rider 87-60 on Monday night.

“We were ready to get another game under our belt, make the corrections,” Greene said.

Svi Mykhailiuk, the 17-year-old Freshman from the Ukraine, made his first start for Kansas, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds. Cliff Alexander had with 10 points and four rebounds.

Xavier Lundy paced Rider (3-2) with 13 points. Teddy Okereafor had 10 points and four assists.

Some of our key guys that we needed to step up, didn’t step up tonight,” Rider head coach Kevin Baggett said, adding that the team got off to a slow start.

One of those key guys was Okereafor. Even though he scored in the double figures, his performance against Kansas was nothing like his last outing against Lehigh. He scored 29 points and had six rebounds in that game.

Kansas (2-1) went on a 9-0 run midway through the first half, solely led by Alexander. In those two minutes, Alexander scored all nine points, grabbed two rebounds and blocked a shot. The freshman only played for 13 minutes.

Wayne Selden Jr. led the Jayhawks with a career-high nine assists. Kansas had 22 overall, more than in the past two games combined.

Greene said Selden was focusing on his passes in practice.

“He’s old enough to know how to do what we want to do,” Kansas coach Bill Self said of Selden. “He’s a good example for the other guys.”

Kansas, then ranked fifth, was routed by No. 1 Kentucky last week in Indianapolis, 72-40, its lowest scoring total since Self took over as coach of the Jayhawks in 2003-04. They had no trouble against unranked Rider.

“Their whole team played with a lot of energy,” Lundy said. “That’s what gave them the extra boost on the court.”

Kelly Oubre Jr. drained a 3-pointer 80 seconds before halftime, extending the Kansas lead to 29. After that, Rider never got closer than 25.

Alexander started the second half in place of Landen Lucas, but was sent back to the bench after three minutes.

“I wanted to see how he handled starting a half and I don’t think he handled it very well,” Self said.

The Jayhawks held Rider scoreless for the first three minutes, and held them to under 10 points for 12 minutes.

“We know what we have to do,” Greene said of fixing issues. “We know where we need to improve. We’ll just keep working.”

TIP-INS

Kansas: Mykhailiuk became the youngest player to start in the Self era.

Rider: Kansas held Rider to 40 percent from the floor, the team’s lowest percentage of the season.

WHAT’S NEXT

Both teams are traveling to Orlando to play in the bracket rounds of the Orlando Classic.

Kansas faces Rhode Island on Thursday afternoon. Rider plays Michigan State later that evening.

STAR POWER

Freshman Devonte’ Graham sprained a shoulder in the game against Kentucky. Self said Graham could have played against Rider but the coach decided to keep him out because he wasn’t needed. Graham should be going full speed for practice on Tuesday and should be available for Rhode Island, Self said.

QUOTABLE

“I’d like to see us settle in on a starting five, but I have a hard time starting guys who are late to tutoring.” — Bill Self

STAT LINES

Selden shot 0 of 4 from the floor, but had nine assists, two rebounds, one block and one steal in his 28 minutes on the court.

— Associated Press —

K-State holds off Purdue in Maui opener

Posted on November 25, 2014November 25, 2014

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Kansas State’s Marcus Foster felt he let his team down with a poor shooting performance against Long Beach State.

He shot the Wildcats into the second round of the Maui Invitational against Purdue.

Foster bounced back from a 1-for-13 night by scoring 24 points, helping Kansas State hold on to beat Purdue 88-79 after blowing most of a big early lead Monday in the opening game of the Maui Invitational.

“It was just about bouncing back, honestly,” said Foster, who finished 9 of 14 from the floor, including 5 of 8 from the 3-point arc. “I felt I let my team down how I played and I had to bounce back.”

All the Wildcats had a disappointing night in the loss to Long Beach State. Kansas State (3-1) bounced back by attacking Purdue early, hounding the Boilermakers into one mistake after another while building a 15-point halftime lead.

Purdue (3-1) fought its way back into it behind Kendall Stephens, who scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half. The Boilermakers pulled within 75-70 on a 3-pointer by Stephens with just over 3 minutes left, but got no closer.

Isaac Haas added 19 points and six rebounds for Purdue.

“We were getting it to two possessions and we needed to get a stop, and we weren’t able to do that,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “That’s part of digging too big of a hole. When you have to fight like that and scrap like that, everything has to go your way down the stretch.”

The trip to Maui offers both teams a step up in competition.

After solid opening wins over Southern Utah and Missouri-Kansas City, the Wildcats took a step back in a 69-60 loss to Long Beach State, leading to a lot of screaming by coach Bruce Weber in the locker room.

The big Boilermakers — no starter under 6-foot-4 — rolled through their first three games, beating Samford, IUPUI and Grambling by an average of 37 points per game.

Those games were in West Lafayette, though.

Once the Boilermakers got to Maui, they had a hard time against K-State’s relentless pressure.

Purdue struggled just getting into its offense against the Wildcats’ hounding throughout the first half, turning it over nine times in the opening nine minutes. Kansas State scored 15 of its first 19 points off turnovers, including four on consecutive backcourt steals.

Keyed by eight first-half steals, the Wildcats raced away from the Boilermakers with an 18-3 run to take a 39-24 halftime lead.

Purdue failed to hit a shot over the final 6:37 and had 11 turnovers, leading to 17 points for K-State.

“I thought the game was dictated right from the beginning,” Weber said. “We had a great sense of urgency.”

The Wildcats tried to run away with it early in the second half, hitting eight of their first 11 shots to push the lead to 20.

The Boilermakers clawed their way back behind Stephens, who hit four of his five 3-pointers in the second half, but Kansas State hit just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.

“We came out in the second half and we changed our intensity,” Stephens said. “I think we put more focus on what we needed to do.”

—

TIP-INS

Purdue: Haas, the Boilermakers’ 7-foot-2 center, had numerous physical confrontations with the Wildcats inside and was called for hitting Kansas State’s Malek Harris with an elbow in the second half.

Kansas State: Weber was an assistant at Purdue for 18 years and has strong ties to Boilermakers coach Matt Painter, recruiting him to West Lafayette and hiring him as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois.

UP NEXT

Purdue will face Missouri in the loser’s bracket on Tuesday.

Kansas State moves on to face Arizona in Tuesday’s semifinals.

PURDUE TURNOVERS

The Boilermakers were much better taking care of the ball in the second half, which allowed them to make a run. Purdue had four turnovers that led to five points for Kansas State in the second half. The Wildcats had nine turnovers total.

GOOD SHOOTING

Both teams shot well. Despite its early turnovers, Purdue shot 55 percent and made nine 3-pointers. Kansas State shot 53 percent and made seven 3s. Both teams were over 60 percent in the second half while combining for 109 points.

— Associated Press —