MBB Rally Comes Up Short at Kansas State

Saturday, March 2

Manhattan, Kan.

7 p.m.

Baylor

19-10 (10-6)

Kansas State

22-7 (12-4)

Baylor

Kansas State

MBB Rally Comes Up Short at Kansas State

3/2/2019 9:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score PDF Box Postgame Quotes

Mario Kegler led Baylor with 13 points.

    MANHATTAN, Kan. – With a chance to pull off a big win on the road and stay in the Big 12 title race, Baylor turned it over three times in the last two minutes, gave up two late offensive rebounds and missed the front end of two one-and-ones Saturday night at Bramlage Coliseum.
    That was enough for 16^th-ranked Kansas State to escape with a 66-60 win over the Bears (19-10, 10-6), who dug out of an early 15-point deficit to take a brief second-half lead. The Wildcats (22-7, 12-4) kept pace with Texas Tech and stayed atop the Big 12 standings, a game ahead of 14-time defending champion Kansas and two games up on Baylor.
    "You had 19 turnovers and only 13 assists, you're 12-for-20 from the free throw line, and it's a two-possession game," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "I think we can play a lot better as far as the turnovers go. I thought their physicality, credit them for doing a good job causing us a lot of those turnovers. That's something, especially when you get closer to postseason, you've got to be better and tougher with the ball."
    K-State scored 21 points off Baylor's 19 turnovers and actually had more second-chance points than the Bears (6-4) despite being outrebounded, 37-27. Four of the Wildcats' starters scored in double figures, led by Dean Wade with 20 points, four rebounds and three blocks.
    Kamau Stokes added 16, Xavier Sneed 14 and Barry Brown Jr., 10, despite a rough 2-of-10 shooting performance from the floor for the senior guard.
    "A lot of things we didn't do well, and you still have a chance to win. So, that's encouraging," Drew said. "This was a good experience, especially for our guards, going against this kind of physicality from upperclassmen in Barry and Stokes and Sneed. Those guys do a good job pressuring you on the perimeter."
    Sneed drained consecutive 3-pointers to cap off a 20-2 run that gave the Wildcats a 24-9 lead with 9:05 left in the first half. After jumping out to an early 7-4 lead, Baylor went through a seven-minute scoring drought that Mario Kegler finally ended with a driving layup.
    The Bears clawed back in with a 9-0 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers by Jared Butler and Makai Mason and a coast-to-coast layup by Devonte Bandoo. Butler, who scored all 10 of his points in the first half, nailed a 3-pointer at the top of the key in the final seconds to make it a 32-30 game at the break.
    Fighting all the way back, Baylor took a 37-36 lead on a King McClure runner in the lane with 15:16 left. McClure, who sat out the Bears' 70-63 loss to K-State in Waco with a knee injury, had seven points, a team-high seven rebounds, three assists and one steal in 19 minutes off the bench.
    During another tough five-minute stretch that saw Baylor miss three shots from the field and two from the line and turn it over twice, the Wildcats went on a 14-2 run and took a 53-41 lead on a Wade jumper with 8:48 left in the game.
    Three days earlier, the Bears overcame a 19-point deficit in the final nine minutes of regulation and pulled out an 84-83 overtime win over the Texas Longhorns.
    They made it interesting again, pulling within 59-55 on a McClure 3-pointer at the 2:51 mark. But, while Baylor missed the front end of two one-and-ones, K-State hit seven free throws in the last 2 ½ minutes to keep the Bears at bay right down to the wire.
    "It's tough," said junior forward Freddie Gillespie, who had seven points and six rebounds and made it a one-possession game on a slam dunk with 22.2 seconds left. "Losing by two possessions is always tough, because you feel like maybe a free throw here, a turnover there, and the game goes the other way. But, it's a tough loss."
    Kegler led Baylor with 13 points before fouling out with 4:50 left, while Vital also fouled out, finishing with seven points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Baylor also got 11 and 10 points, respectively, from Mason and Butler, but they also combined for nine of the team's 19 turnovers.
The Bears return home to host Oklahoma State (10-19, 3-13) at 8 p.m. Wednesday for Senior Day before closing out the regular season with a road trip to play No. 15 Kansas (22-7, 11-5) at 1 p.m. next Saturday, March 9, at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.