March 19, 2024

Iowa State withstands second-half charge to beat Kansas State

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Before Wednesday night, Solomon Young had just one start for Iowa State and a scoring average of 3.4 points a game.

Young’s second start was one for the books.

The freshman scored a season-high 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Cyclones to an 87-79 win over Kansas State.

Deonte Burton added 17 points, Naz Mitrou-Long Long had 16, Monte Morris 15 and Matt Thomas 14 for Iowa State (16-9, 8-5 Big 12).

Young’s previous career high was 12 points against The Citadel and seven rebounds against Mississippi Valley State.

“We talked about it in the scouting report that their bigs help the weak side for blocked shots,” Young said. “So always stay in position to get the weak side rebound.”

Barry Brown had 21 points for Kansas State (16-10, 5-8) with Wesley Iwundu adding 16 with 13 rebounds.

ISU built a 19-point lead and led 42-26 at the half before withstanding a furious second half rally from the Wildcats, who got as close as six.

“We played very tentative, very casual on the defensive end,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “They (Iowa State) are a veteran group. They made some tough shots. Once you get a couple of them going, the big kid (Solomon) killed us.”

After shooting 34 percent (12-of-35) in the first half, Kansas State shot 58 percent (18-of-31) in the second. An 11-0 run got them within striking distance, 49-42 with 12:27 to play, but the Cyclones pushed the lead back to 15.

Twice the Wildcats got within six, the last time with 4:09 to play, but in the final 1:03 Iowa State was 11-of-12 from the foul line. The Cyclones made 18-of-22 free throws in the second half to finish 22-of-26 for a seven-point advantage.

Big Picture

Iowa State: The win was two in a row in Manhattan for the Cyclones, who last did that in 2000 and 01.

Kansas State: The Wildcats have lost three straight games at home.

Stat of the Night

With the loss to Iowa State, Weber now has a lower winning percentage than Jim Wooldridge had in his last three seasons at KSU.

Injury Report

K-State’s DJ Johnson was limited after sitting out against West Virginia on Saturday. Johnson was held scoreless on 0-for-2 shooting.