Colorado University Athletics
Colorado
Kansas State
MBB Shut Down In Second Half In 72-60 Loss To Kansas State
February 18, 2006 | Men's Basketball
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) - Cartier Martin scored 21 points - all but three in the second half - and had 10 rebounds, helping Kansas State come back to beat Colorado 72-60 on Saturday.
Akeem Wright added 17 points and Dramane Diarra had 13, both career highs, for Kansas State (14-9, 5-7 Big 12).
The Wildcats, who won for just the second time in seven games, blew an early 9-point lead and trailed by 11 points early in the second half before surging ahead and then putting the game away with a late 16-0 run.
Richard Roby, who led Colorado (17-6, 7-5) with 28 points in Wednesday's 84-75 victory over No. 19 Oklahoma, was held to 14 points on 5-for-14 shooting. He had just five points in the second half.
Kansas State had its own offensive struggles, going more than 8 minutes without a field goal in the late first half and early second before Wright scored nine straight points in a 13-2 run that put the Wildcats up 46-43 with just under 9 1/2 minutes left.
Wright started his surge with a putback, following it up over the next 3 1/2 minutes with a fast-break dunk, a 3-point play and a pair of free throws.
Glean Eddy's basket with 8:25 left put Colorado just one point behind, at 46-45, but Kansas State responded with its 16-point run. The Buffaloes didn't score again until Dominique Coleman put back his own miss with 1:52 to go to make it 62-49.
The 16-0 surge started quietly enough, when Diarra hit a 19-footer with just over 8 minutes left. Both teams went scoreless on several possessions after that, but Mario Taybron's 3-pointer with 6 1/2 minutes left and Martin's fast-break dunk 35 seconds later put the momentum squarely on Kansas State's side.
Marcus Hall led the Buffaloes, who lost their third straight road game, with 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
A 17-7 run, capped by Wright's steal and layup, gave the Wildcats a 21-12 lead with just under 8 1/2 minutes left in the first half. They managed just two more free throws before halftime, though, and an 18-5 surge put the Buffaloes up 30-26 at the break.
The Buffaloes opened the second half on a 7-0 run before Martin's 3-pointer with 17:11 left broke Kansas State's dry spell from the field.
The Wildcats were just 1-for-3 from the line in the first half, when the Buffaloes were called for only four fouls. Kansas State finished 14-for-19 after Colorado was forced to foul late in the game.
Colorado hit all 11 of its free throws, one of the bright spots on the afternoon for the Buffaloes. CU has turned around its fortunes from the foul line over the last three games, making 51-of-59 (86.4 percent). However, it was not enough to help the Buffs in their attempt to match the school's best record (18-5) after 23 games.
