For the third straight Saturday, the K-State men’s basketball team played a Big 12 Conference game on the road. And for the third straight Saturday, the Wildcats were victorious.
This Saturday, the Wildcats were in College Station, Texas, to play the Texas A&M Aggies. K-State (16-7, 5-4 Big 12 Conference) defeated the Aggies (17-7, 3-6 Big 12) 65-60.
“We missed some shots at the beginning, but our guys stayed the course, kept at it and got us a win,” head coach Frank Martin said. “We are playing with a lot more confidence than we were at the beginning of the season.”
The game started out at a very fast pace, with both teams trading baskets. A 3-pointer by Jacob Pullen, with 4:44 left in the first half broke a 16-16 tie. The Wildcats would end the first half on a 7-5 run and take a 23-21 lead into the break.
K-State led at half for the fourth straight game and is 15-1 this season when the team had a halftime lead.
After halftime, both teams came out strong offensively – the score was tied six times and the lead changed 12 different times.
K-State led the Aggies 56-50 with 4:37, but Texas A&M went on a 7-2 run to cut the Wildcat lead to one. But back-to-back 3-pointers by Pullen and Fred Brown extended K-State’s lead to 64-57 with less than one minute to play in the game.
Texas A&M answered with a 3-pointer of their own by junior guard Donald Sloan. On the following K-State possession, Pullen was fouled and made one of the two free throws to seal the victory for the Wildcats.
“We practice hard before we go out to an away game,” Pullen said. “We really work on our intensity and practice, going hard the whole time. We know that we have guys that will be there to score when other guys are struggling.”
Pullen led the Wildcats with 16 points. Denis Clemente scored all 14 of his points in the second half. K-State is now 10-0 this season when both Pullen and Clemente score in double-digits.
Darren Kent also scored in double-digits with 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Guards Josh Carter and Donald Sloan had 14 and 12 points, respectively, to lead the Aggies.
Next up for the Wildcats are the Texas Tech Red Raiders at 8 p.m. on Wednesday in Bramlage Coliseum.