The Kansas State men’s and women’s basketball teams were in action in a doubleheader at Bramlage Coliseum on Monday night.
K-State women’s basketball versus Omaha
The K-State women’s basketball team opened the season on Monday in a game against Omaha, coming away with a 61-46 victory to start of the season in the win column.
Omaha held an early 13-6 lead before K-State freshman guard Christianna Carr hit a three-pointer to get the Wildcats going in the opening quarter.
When the first quarter ended, the Wildcats found themselves trailing 17-13. K-State had four turnovers in the first quarter.
The Wildcats would tie the game at 17-17 in the opening minutes of the second quarter with a jumper from junior forward Jasauen Beard. Omaha built another lead before failing to score a bucket for four minutes, while K-State went on a scoring drought of its own for two minutes.
The Wildcats would make just one of its last 10 field goal attempts to end the first half, and found themselves trailing 30-22 at the break.
K-State shot just eight-percent (1-13) from behind the three-point line and 31-percent (8-26) from the field overall in the first half.
During the third quarter, the Mavericks had a four-minute span where they committed six turnovers and failed to score any points. K-State would go on a 12-1 run during that time to cut the lead to two points.
Sophomore Wildcat guard Cymone Goodrich would hit two free throws to tie the game at 36 late in the third quarter. When the third quarter came to a close, K-State trailed 41-39.
Beard hit a layup to tie the game early in the fourth quarter, and the Wildcats would then take the lead on a Rachel Ranke layup. The lead was K-State’s first since the opening 32 seconds of the game.
K-State dominated Omaha in the final quarter, outscoring the Mavericks 22-5 to escape with a 61-46, come from behind win.
Beard led the Wildcats in scoring with 12 points, while junior forward Peyton Williams posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. K-State scored 20 points off turnovers in the winning effort.
Freshman center Elena Pilakouta led the Mavericks with ten points and five rebounds.
K-State will host North Texas at 7 p.m. on Friday before heading to Cancun to participate in the Cancun Challenge.
K-State men’s basketball versus Denver
The men’s team returned to the hardwood on Monday and hung on to defeat Denver 64-56.
The Wildcats scored six points early before going on a four-minute scoring drought that saw them shoot just 25-percent.
Junior forward Xavier Sneed ended the drought with a three-pointer, the first three of the night, to tie the game.
Denver turned the ball over six times in the opening half as K-State went on a 7-0 run to force the Pioneers to call a timeout with the score at 18-12.
The Pioneers would respond with their own 7-0 run to end the half and keep the game within reach, as K-State took a 31-28 lead into halftime.
Senior guard Joe Rosga scored 12 points in the first half for Denver. Senior guard Barry Brown Jr. led the Wildcats with ten points, while senior forward Dean Wade dominated down low with nine rebounds in the opening half.
Early in the second half, Denver tied the game at 31 which forced K-State head coach Bruce Weber to call a timeout.
The Wildcats would take a 41-38 lead after a three-pointer by Brown, which was the third three of the night for K-State. K-State later went on a 13-2 run in the second half to extend its lead.
The Pioneers cut the lead to five points with five minutes remaining in the game.
Denver came within three points after two made free throws by senior guard/forward Ronnie Harrell Jr., before Brown hit a jump shot to push the lead back to five late in the game.
Despite a rough shooting night, K-State escaped with its second win of the season.
Rosga led Denver with 18 points, while Harrell led with 12 rebounds.
The Wildcats struggled at the free throw line only shooting just 44-percent (12-27). Junior forward Austin Trice was two-for-eight, Wade was two-for-five, and Brown was three-for-five on the night from the line.
K-State shot just six-for-27 from the three-point line as well.
Brown led the Wildcats with 25 points. Wade’s 16 rebounds were the most by a Wildcat since Jordan Henriquez had 17 against Syracuse in 2012.
The Wildcats capitalized by scoring 23 points off 17 Pioneer turnovers.
The men’s team will travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam to play Eastern Kentucky on Friday at 6:30 p.m., which can be watched on FloHoops.com. The Wildcats will return to Manhattan to play Lehigh on Saturday, November 24.
