KSU’s Marcus Foster gave the Wildcats a 69-67 lead with 4:00 minutes remaining. After that, it was all Cyclones, as ISU scored 10-straight points and held KSU scoreless until a meaningless basket in the final seconds.
The Cyclones were led by their usual suspects, but received a huge lift from their bench. Jameel McKay tied his career with 15 points and Abdel Nader chipped in with 11 points, nine of them coming in the second period, including a stretch of seven-straight points to keep the Cyclones close. The duo had all 26 bench points for the Cyclones.
McKay added a team-high seven rebounds and blocked three shots in the victory.
How it happened…
Kansas State posted the early lead at 17-12 before the Cyclones got going. A quick 7-0 run by ISU put the home team ahead 19-17 after Naz Long hit a 3-pointer.
The Cyclones held their largest lead of the first half at 36-29 with 3:12 remaining after Georges Niang scored on a drive. However, the Wildcats rattled off nine-straight points in less than three minutes to move ahead 38-36 with less than a minute remaining.
Foster, who was held in check in the first 15 minutes, got hot, burying two jumpers and draining a pair of free-throws to score seven points in the run. Niang gave ISU the lead at the break (39-38), however, by hitting a trey in the final minute.
KSU grabbed a 54-49 lead behind a 10-1 run early in the second half. Nader lifted ISU briefly by scoring seven-straight points to give ISU the lead at 58-56, but a Gipson bucket and a Foster trey pushed the Wildcats back out in front 61-58 with 9:10 remaining.
Naz Long tied the game at 61-61 with a 3-pointer at the 8:54 mark. After that, there were seven ties or lead changes until Long put ISU up for good at 71-69 with a pair of free-throws with 2:42 left. Monte’ Morris then hit a runner to increase the ISU lead to 73-69 with 0:37 seconds left.
ISU made 8-of-10 free-throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
Abdel Nader’s spark from the bench proved to be the difference. Nader scored 11 points, including nine in the second half. ISU was down 56-51 with 12:30 left in the game until Nader scored seven-straight points to give the Cyclones the lead. He had another big bucket with 6:45 left to end an ISU drought and came up with a big block on a KSU fast break to keep ISU out in front.
The Cyclones travel to Texas Tech on Saturday (Jan. 24). Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. CT on ESPNU.
