Kansas State shrugs off sluggish start, wins big
Mountain West teams Air Force, SJSU lose
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Dean Wade knew Kansas State was in need of a spark, and he took it upon himself to provide it.
Wade scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half, Barry Brown added 16 and No. 12 Kansas State beat Lehigh 77-58 on Saturday.
“The first half we weren’t playing with any emotion or energy so my main focus was to do that,” Wade said. “I just wanted to be aggressive, but smart.”
The Wildcats (6-0) controlled the second half after the Mountain Hawks hung around and trailed by two at halftime.
“I think we wore them down as the game went on,” coach Bruce Weber said. “I told our guys these guys are pretty good and I didn’t think we played very good defense in the first half.”
Kamau Stokes scored 10 points, including two first-half 3-pointers, but the Wildcats continued to struggle with their long-distance shooting at home, making 6 of 20 3-point attempts.
James Karnik had 15 points and eight rebounds for Lehigh (4-2), and Pat Andree scored 12. Lehigh compiled 16 turnovers and made just nine field goals in the second half, shooting 28 percent. Lehigh shot 54 percent in the first half.
The Wildcats scored 18 points off Lehigh’s turnovers.
“Our defense is always something we take pride in,” Brown said. “We just focused on getting stops every time and we were able to get some easy baskets off those.”
NO. 13 VIRGINIA TECH 75, ST. FRANCIS (PA) 37: In Blacksburg, Va., Ahmed Hill scored eight of his 19 points during a 24-6 run spanning halftime, and the Hokies (5-0) routed the Red Flash (1-4).
The Hokies led 23-20 when a 3-pointer by Ty Outlaw sparked a 10-2 run to end the first half. Nickeil AlexanderWalker made another 3-pointer right after halftime, one of 14 for Virginia Tech, and two 3s and a basket from Hill and a three-point play by Justin Robinson pushed the lead to 47-26.
Myles Thompson led the Red Flash (1-4) with 14 points. St. Francis shot just 25.9 percent (15 for 58) and committed 22 turnovers.
NO. 22 BUFFALO 76, MARIST 49: In Amherst, N.Y., CJ Massinburg scored 21 points, Jayvon Graves added 16 and the Bulls (3-1) overcame a slow start to beat the Red Foxes (1-4).
Massinburg returned after missing one game with a sprained knee and shot 7 of 10 from the field with six 3-pointers in 25 minutes off the bench.
Jeremy Harris had eight assists and Nick Perkins pulled down seven rebounds for the Bulls in their second blowout victory at home.
Ryan Funk and Austin Williams each scored 10 points to lead Marist.
MWC
COLORADO 93, AIR FORCE 56: In Air Force Academy, Colo., Lucas Siewert tied career highs with 17 points and eight rebounds and the Buffaloes (3-1) snapped a six-game skid in true road games by whipping the Falcons (2-4).
It was the ninth straight win for Colorado over the Falcons, who fell behind 17-4 in the opening minutes and never really recovered in losing for the 25th time in the 28-game series with Colorado.
SANTA CLARA 71, SAN JOSE STATE 63: In San Jose, Calif., Tahj Eaddy set career highs with six 3-pointers and 23 points and the Broncos (1-4) got their first win of the season by downing the Spartans (1-5).
Santa Clara trailed by as many as nine early before taking control with a 15-5 run to end the first half up 38-35. The Broncos never trailed in the second half.
State
WASHBURN 94, ENMU 56: In Topeka Kan., Will McKee led four Washburn players in double figures with 18 points as the Ichabods (4-1) routed the Greyhounds (1-4).
Zach Parker led ENMU with 16 points.