KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tylor Perry was 10-for-10 from the free-throw line on his way to 21 points as 10th-seeded Kansas State knocked off seventh-seeded Texas 78-74 Wednesday night in the second round of the Big 12 Championship.
The Wildcats advanced to play second-seeded Iowa State in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.
Kansas State led by 10 with 4:28 to play, but Texas kept charging. Dylan Disu’s put-back with 28 seconds left cut the Wildcats’ lead to 70-68.
The Longhorns’ Chendall Weaver was called for an intentional foul, and Perry hit both free throws. Cam Carter then hit a layup to put Kansas State up by six.
Texas’ Max Abmas hit a 3-pointer, but Perry hit two more free throws with 11 seconds left. Abmas hit another 3-pointer with eight seconds left to cut the deficit to 76-74, before Carter hit two free throws to ice the victory.
Kansas State (19-13) got 14 points and eight rebounds from Arthur Kaluma, 13 points from David N’Guessan and 10 each from Carter and Dai Dai Ames. Carter added seven rebounds.
Abmas led Texas (20-12 with 26 points. They also got 14 points from Ithiel Horton followed with 14 points and Dillon Mitchell chipped in 13. Disu had nine points, nine boards and two steals.
Kansas State scored the first seven points of the second half to cut a 10-point deficit to three. Shortly thereafter, the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run to lead 48-47, their first lead since before midway through the first half.
After shooting 57.1 percent in the first half, Texas was frigid to start the second. The Longhorns missed 12 of their first 14 shots, and didn’t make their third field goal until 7:57 remained in the game.
Texas continued to struggle from the field, and Kansas State took a 67-57 lead with 4:28 left.
The first half was filled with spurts. After Kansas State used a 7-0 run to grab its first lead at 16-12, the Longhorns answered with 14 straight to go back up by 10. The Wildcats went 6:33 without a point during the run.
Kansas State got back within four points with 3:20 left, but the Longhorns went to the locker room with a 39-29 lead.
Mitchell had 11 points in the first half for Texas, while Abmas added 10. Perry led the Wildcats with nine points, six of them coming on free throws.
–By David Smale, Field Level Media