Southern Miss Golden Eagles vs Kansas State Wildcats Match Player Stats On Dec 19, 2018

Kansas State used a 24-2 run to erase a 16-point second-half deficit, then hung on for a 55-51 victory over Southern Mississippi Wednesday night in Manhattan, Kansas.

Kamau Stokes had 16 of his team-high 18 points in the second half for Kansas State.

Kansas State played its first full game without leading scorer and rebounder Dean Wade, and the Wildcats looked a little disheveled for the first 25 minutes of game action. The 6-10 senior center went down in the last game against Georgia State with what was diagnosed as a slight tear in a tendon in his foot. The timetable for his return is between three and eight weeks.

Things looked bleak for K-State as Southern Miss grabbed its biggest lead at 35-19 early in the second half. But Stokes went on a 10-0 run by himself to cut the lead to just six points. After a Southern Miss bucket, the Wildcats used another 9-0 run to grab the lead, 38-37. The run extended to 24-2 before Southern Miss got back on track.

Southern Miss cut the lead to one point but couldn't retake the lead.

In addition to Stokes, Kansas State (8-2) was led by Barry Brown with 15 points. Xavier Sneed had eight points and 14 rebounds.

Southern Miss (7-4) was led by Cortez Edwards with 18 points. He was joined in double-figures by Tyree Griffin with 11.

Kansas State scored the game's first seven points, as Southern Miss missed its first seven shots before Edwards hit a jumper with 15:23 left in the first half. But a 14-0 run over the next 4:51 reversed that trend and allowed the Golden Eagles to double up the Cats. The Golden Eagles led by as many as 13 points in the first half, as K-State struggled to find a rhythm. They led 31-19 at intermission.

The Wildcats shot just 30.8 percent from the field, including 0-of-9 from three-point range, in the half. The 19 first-half points were the fewest of the season for Kansas State, with the previous low being the 25 scored against Tulsa.

This was the first regular-season game against a Big 12 opponent in 10 years for Southern Miss and the first loss in three visits to Manhattan for the Golden Eagles. K-State extended its streak of consecutive nonconference wins at Bramlage Coliseum to 28.

--Field Level Media