Kansas State basketball's furious rally comes up short in loss to BYU
Kansas State looked dead in the water midway through the second half, but got it to a one-possession game Saturday night, only to come up short against Brigham Young, 72-66, at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.
With the loss, K-State fell to 15-9 overall and 5-6 in the Big 12, while BYU improved to 17-6 and 5-5.
Arthur Kaluma scored 13 points in the second half and led K-State with 18 points and eight rebounds. Cam Carter added 14 points. The Wildcats also outrebounded BYU, 42-34, with Will McNair grabbing 10.
For BYU, which led by 17 points, 58-41, with 9:12 left, Fousseyni Traore led a balanced attack with 14 points and eight rebounds. The Cougars also got 12 points each from Jaxson Robinson and Spencer Johnson, 11 from Noah Waterman and 10 from Trevin Knell.
Here are three takeaways from an improved road effort, but another loss for the Wildcats.
Late run gives Wildcats a chance
Kansas State appeared to be going nowhere, trailing by 16 points with just under six minutes left, when something suddenly clicked.
The Wildcats reeled off 11 straight point to pull within five, 64-59, on a Carter basket with 3:42 left. And at the 1:10 mark, Kaluma knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game, 66-64.
But Jaxson Robinson's 3-pointer with 53 seconds left proved to be a dagger for BYU, pushing the lead back to five, and K-State got no closer than three the rest of the way.
Turnovers and more turnovers
Turnovers continued to be a problem for K-State, which is not a winning formula against a BYU team that does not give the ball away.
The Wildcats finished with 16 to just seven for BYU, and the Cougars wound up with a 14-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Wildcats' 36-27 halftime deficit was largely created by their inability to take care of the ball as they coughed it up nine times before the break, leading to a 6-0 BYU advantage.
Making matters worse for the Wildcats was the fact that a number of the miscues were unforced.
A hot start from Dai Dai Ames
Freshman guard Dai Dai Ames got K-State off to a fast start with a pair of 3-pointers and scored the Wildcats' first eight points.
With those three baskets, Ames nearly doubled his season average of 4.7 point in the first four minutes. His eight points led K-State at the half, but he did not score again.
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Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball comeback falls short against BYU
