K-State survives George Mason after blowing most of 21-point lead
A 21-point lead had nearly completely disappeared, as George Mason had two chances in the final 10 seconds to steal a victory over Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday night.
But the Wildcats’ defense came up with stops both times, as K-State survived for a 59-58 victory over George Mason and improved to 10-2 heading into the Big 12 opener on Wednesday at home against Texas.
George Mason’s Justin Kier missed a floater with four seconds left and K-State’s Barry Brown grabbed the rebound and appeared to dribble out the clock. But lost in the crowd’s jubilation was a referee’s whistle ruling that Brown had double dribbled with 1.2 seconds remaining.
That gave George Mason one final chance for an upset. But George Mason turned it over on the inbounds pass and K-State survived.
Kansas State guard Kamau Stokes entered the game needing eight points to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career, a milestone he secured with a free throw with 30 seconds left in the first half. Stokes finished with a game-high 20 points and became the 30th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points.
But the accomplishment was even more important in the bigger picture: Stokes joined fellow classmates Dean Wade and Barry Brown in the 1,000-point club, making this year’s senior class the first in K-State history to have a trio of 1,000-point career scorers.
Xavier Sneed added 13 points and nine rebounds for K-State, while Brown finished with 12 points, six rebounds and seven assists. George Mason (6-7) was led by 15 points from Kier.
George Mason reeled off a 12-3 run in the final three minutes to cut away at K-State’s 56-46 lead. Up one with less than 30 seconds remaining, Brown attacked and produced a wide open corner three for Cartier Diarra that rimmed in and out to create a frantic final 10 seconds.
It was an overall lethargic second half from K-State, which only scored 23 second-half points and committed eight of its 10 turnovers.
K-State thought it had put out George Mason’s comeback attempt after George Mason rallied to within six points with seven minutes remaining.
On the ensuing possession after George Mason got the lead down to six, the crowd voiced its displeasure in the lack of movement within K-State’s offense and groaned when Brown’s drive to the basket was stripped. But the ball squirted free to Stokes on the perimeter and he swished in a three, just beating the shot clock.
The bucket rescued the Wildcats from another empty possession, then Stokes ignited his team and the crowd with a second straight three-pointer to restore K-State’s cushion to 12 points, 55-43, with 5:33 remaining.
K-State suffered through a nearly seven-minute drought in the first half before snapping out of its funk to end the half on a 20-2 run in the final nine minutes to take a 36-16 advantage into halftime.
The Wildcats used a familiar formula on defense: suffocating man-to-man in the halfcourt, contesting every shot, rebounding. K-State held George Mason to one chance on 29 of 30 first-half possessions, limiting George Mason to 25.9-percent shooting (7 of 27) and rebounding 95 percent (20 of 21) of the misses.
On offense, jump shots finally started falling. The Wildcats entered the game as one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country (30.3 percent for the season), but was able to make 5 of 11 tries beyond the arc in the first half against George Mason.
Brown and Sneed each connected on threes in the opening four minutes, then when George Mason rallied to within 16-14 midway through the half, Sneed jump-started K-State’s rally with a three. Minutes later, Stokes followed with a three, and Sneed hit one in transition to push K-State’s lead to 25-14.
K-State finished the half on an 11-0 run in the final three minutes, boosted by five free throws. In the action, Levi Stockard muscled his way inside for a basket, Sneed canned a mid-range jumper, then Stokes capped the rally with a bucket in transition.
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