Kansas State Holds Off Late Cyclone Rally, 73-69

Saturday, March 8

Ames, Iowa

3:00 PM

Iowa State

14-17, 4-12

Kansas State

20-10,10-6

Team	1	2	F
Kansas State	42	31	73
Iowa State	33	36	69

Kansas State Holds Off Late Cyclone Rally, 73-69

03.08.2008 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa? Kansas State held off a late Cyclone rally to down Iowa State, 73-69 Saturday afternoon in Hilton Coliseum. ISU, which drops to 14-17 overall and 4-12 in Big 12 play, was down by 14 points in the second half but cut the lead to two points in the closing seconds.

"It's really unfortunate that this team can't quite kick that door in," ISU head coach Greg McDermott said. "We are so close and there are a lot of good things that happened this week. I am not sure how many teams out there could have played with the heart my team played with, especially with the situation we were in."

Iowa State fell down 12-4 early, as Clent Stewart and Andre Gilbert drilled treys to ignite the Kansas State offense. ISU fought back by rattling off seven consecutive points to cut the lead to 12-11 with 14:03 left in the first half. Rahshon Clark hit a trey and Brackins scored in the paint to account for five of ISU's seven points in the run.

The Wildcats established another six-point lead (23-17) late in the first half, but the Cyclones kept coming back. Brackins scored inside and Bryan Petersen buried a trey to cut the lead to 23-22 with 7:29 left in the half.

KSU's Jacob Pullen hit three late 3-pointers to help KSU go into halftime with a 42-33 lead. Pullen finished the half with 13 points and Brackins led ISU with 15 first-half points.

The Wildcats increased their lead to 11 points at the beginning of the second half on a Gilbert bucket, but the Cyclones answered with a 7-2 run behind a Wesley Johnson trey to cut the lead to six points (54-48) with 13:05 remaining in the game. The Wildcats then scored the next eight points to go up 62-48 with 10:14 left in the game.

KSU then went into a scoring drought to allow the Cyclones to creep back into the game. ISU held KSU scoreless from the field for a five-minute stretch and went on a 12-1 run to cut the lead to 63-60 with 4:58 remaining in the ballgame. ISU went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line during its run. The Wildcats finally got a pair of hoops from Bill Walker and Pullen to go back up 67-60.

The Cyclones cut the lead back down to three points (69-66) with a basket and two free-throws from Brackins with 1:53 remaining. After both teams traded baskets, ISU was down three (71-68) with a final chance to tie the game with 0:22 seconds left in the game. Garrett drove the lane and missed and Walker cleaned up the rebound and was immediately fouled. He missed the one-and-one chance and the Cyclones passed the ball out to Garrett, who was fouled with 0:02 seconds left. Garrett made the first free-throw and intentionally missed the second shot, but Beasley grabbed the board for the Wildcats and was fouled with 0:01.9 left in the game. Beasley made both free-throws to seal the victory.

Brackins led ISU with 24 points, his fourth 20-point game of the season. He is just the fifth Cyclone rookie to have four or more 20-point games in their freshman season. Wesley Johnson added 12 points in the loss. For the most part, ISU did a great job on Beasley, holding him to a Big 12-low 15 points. However, Pullen came through with a career-high 19 points to pace the Wildcats.

The Cyclones will either be the 11 or 12 seed at the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., next week. ISU will play on Thursday (March 13) at either 2 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. ISU will play Baylor or Texas A&M.

Notes
- ISU has lost its last two Senior Day games and is now 7-3 in Senior Day games the last 10 years.
- Bryan Petersen has made a 3-pointer in seven consecutive games.
- Craig Brackins led ISU with 24 points, his fourth 20-point scoring game this season...his four 20-point games ties for fourth with Barry Stevens for most 20-point scoring games by an ISU freshman.
- Rahshon Clark made his first 3-pointer since Feb. 9 (Texas).
- Clark started his 107th career game, tying at No. 8 with Julius Michalik for most career starts in school history.
- Clark blocked one shot in the game...he now ranks 15th in single-season blocks with 34.
- Wesley Johnson made two 3-pointers...he now ranks 19th on ISU's single-season 3-pointers made list with 46 and ranks for 13th on ISU's career 3-pointers made chart with 78.
- Diante Garrett dished out five assists...he has five or more assists in eight games this season.
- ISU is 55-of-63 (87.3 pct.) from the free-throw line in its last three games...ISU was 14-of-16 from the line today.
- ISU outshot KSU (48.1%-44.8%)...ISU is now 11-4 when outshooting its opponent.