Gordon leads young K-State to 74-65 win in Big 12 opener

Dec 16, 2020, 04:53 am

AMES, Iowa -- — DaJuan Gordon scored 15 points, making all 11 free throws, Kansas State made seven of eight from the line in the last 41 seconds, turning aside a late Iowa State surge 74-65 Tuesday night in a Big 12 Conference opener.

Gordon also grabbed 11 rebounds for his first career double-double as the Wildcats (3-4, 1-0) held a 35-25 edge on the boards.

Kansas State started three true freshman in a Big 12 game for the first time and the trio came through. Davion Bradford scored 14 points, Nijel Pack and Selton Miguel each added eight points with three steals.

As Iowa State stubbornly whittled away at Kansas State's double-digit lead down the stretch, Pack stole the ball and scored on a fastbreak layup, pushing the lead back to 67-57 with just under two minutes to go.

Rasir Bolton paced the Cyclones (1-3, 0-1) with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting but turned the ball over seven times. Tyler Harris added 10 points and drained a rare 3-pointer for Iowa State (which was 5 of 20 from distance at the time) to cut the gap to 67-60. Each team then called a timeout to set up for the final 96 seconds.

The teams each had eight steals and Kansas State made 17 turnovers to Iowa State's 18, but the Wildcats were able to score 24 points off turnovers to Iowa State's 14.

The Wildcats put together runs of 13-0 and 10-2 to break away for a 40-26 lead at halftime. The 13-0 run midway through the first half featured back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers — two from Carlton Linguard (10 points) and another from Rudi Williams (10).

Aside from that flurry of long-distance shooting, K-State was 4-for-23 from 3-point range.

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