Posted on Tue, Jan. 26, 2010

e-mail	print	RSS	reprint
AIM	Digg it	del.icio.us	Facebook

Pullen leads Kansas State to 76-74 win at Baylor

BY KELLIS ROBINETT

The Wichita Eagle

WACO, Texas — As he stepped to the free-throw line with 8.2 seconds remaining Tuesday night, Jacob Pullen didn't focus on the Baylor students waving their arms behind the basket or the 8,833 fans at the Ferrell Center rooting for him to fail.

His mind was somewhere else.

In a tie game, the Kansas State junior guard thought back to his childhood, when his family used to help him practice shooting pressure free throws at a neighborhood gym.

"(They would) jump up and down and they would scream," Pullen said. "If I missed, they would be like, ‘You've got no ice in your veins.' The whole time I was standing there, I was just thinking ice."

The mindset paid off. Pullen sank two free throws and propelled No. 11 K-State to a 76-74 victory over No. 24 Baylor.

The Bears frantically ran upcourt in the closing moments and tried to send the game to overtime, but LaceDarius Dunn missed a contested, off-balance shot at the buzzer.

As the ball fell harmlessly to the court, Wildcat coach Frank Martin emphatically pumped his fist.

K-State (17-3, 4-2 Big 12) next hosts No. 2 Kansas on Saturday.

It was a much-needed victory for the Wildcats. Coming off a home loss to Oklahoma State, players said they needed to steal a game on the road if they wanted to contend for a regular-season conference championship.

Behind a game-high 25 points from Pullen, 17 from Denis Clemente and 10 from Rodney McGruder, K-State accomplished its goal.

"It was so important to win this game and prepare ourselves for Saturday," Clemente said. "This is a big win on the road."

It was also confidence boosting. Pullen and Clemente had been trapped in a two-game slump. Together, they made 4 of 24 shots against Texas and 8 of 29 against Oklahoma State.

Both said they were motivated to get back to their old ways, so much so that Pullen spent the past few days studying his shot on video and discovered some small, technical flaws.

Martin also took Pullen aside and told him his practice habits were no longer as strong as earlier in the season.

"But he's been tremendous the last two days," Martin said. "Jake has a lot of pride. He understood that whatever was happening over the last couple weeks wasn't good. He just zoned in, came in the last two days and was phenomenal in practice."

That carried over to Tuesday. Against Baylor, he went 7 of 11 from the field and made 6 of 7 three-pointers.

"I felt great," Pullen said. "I felt like I got back into my rhythm."

Clemente also improved, making 7 of 17 shots with three assists.

Martin noticed the difference. So did Baylor guard Tweety Carter, who led the Bears with 23 points.

"Their guards came in ready to play tonight," he said. "From the looks of it, they took control of their team like guards do."

Pullen was also asked to guard Dunn, Baylor's top scorer who dropped 33 on the Wildcats a year ago in Manhattan.

Pullen came through, holding Dunn to nine points.

"Defensively," Martin said, “my heart goes out to him."

K-State needed everything Pullen could give. The game was close throughout, and neither team led by more than six points. The Wildcats were up 39-36 at halftime, and both sides had their chances late.

Pullen took advantage more than anyone else.

Check Kellis Robinett’s K-State blog at blogs.kansas.com/kstated. Reach him at krobinett@wichitaeagle.com.