Markquis Nowell overcame an off night offensively with clutch play down the stretch as host Kansas State defeated Wichita State 55-50 Saturday night in Manhattan, Kan. Nowell scored the Wildcats’ last six points.
Keyontae Johnson led Kansas State (7-1) with 17 points. Nae’Qwan Tomlin added 14.
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Nowell, who was averaging 15 points per game, struggled all night. He reached double figures with the first of two free throws with 1.5 seconds left. He was 2-of-9 from the field, including 1-of-6 from long range.
The Shockers (4-4) were led by Craig Porter Jr.’s 11 points.
Neither team shot particularly well. Kansas State shot 35.8 percent from the field, and Wichita State finished at 28.8 percent. Each team was 4-of-20 on 3-point attempts.
The Shockers went nearly five minutes without a point in the second half, and the Wildcats used an 8-0 run to take the lead at 47-45 with 5:42 left, their first lead since 15-14.
After Wichita State’s Quincy Ballard made a free throw, Nowell hit his first field goal of the game to extend the lead to 49-46.
Ballard hit two more free throws, and when Porter hit a jumper with 2:13 left, it ended a stretch of almost eight minutes without a field goal.
Nowell hit 1-of-2 from the line to tie it at 50-50. After making a steal with 1:14 left, Nowell hit a 3-pointer from about 25 feet to give Kansas State the lead. He then made another steal on the defensive end. The Wildcats missed a shot with 13 seconds left, but Wichita State threw the ball away with three seconds left.
The Wildcats scored the first six points of the game, but Wichita State answered with an 11-0 run. The teams took turns with small spurts before Wichita State took its largest lead of the half at 26-19.
The Shockers led by seven again at 32-25, but the Wildcats scored the last four points of the half to go into the locker room down by three points. Jalen Wichita State’s Jalen Ricks hit an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it came a split-second late.
Porter led the Shockers with nine points in the first half. Xavier Bell and Jaykwon Walton had seven each.
Tomlin had 12 points in the first half for the Wildcats.
–Field Level Media
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