Kansas State Falls in Big 12 Tourney Semifinal

Mar 10, 2017; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas State Wildcats guard Carlbe Ervin II (1) shoots a layup as West Virginia Mountaineers forward Elijah Macon (45) looks on in the first half during the Big 12 Championship Tournament at Sprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /

Kansas State led the Big 12 Conference semifinals most of the night. The Wildcats lost on a late West Virginia free throw 51-50.

Bruce Weber’s team did everything they could to advance to Saturday’s title game. They were outscored 24-11 over the last 13 minutes in a crushing loss.

I was thrilled to see Dean Wade take a shot on the Wildcat’s opening possession.

He finally hit his first shot since the Texas Tech game three-minutes into Friday night’s contest.

Kansas State made an 11-zip run in less than 3 minutes to go up by 10 with just over 6 minutes left in the half. They looked great.

I thought two early fouls on D.J. Johnson would hurt but Isaiah Maurice filled in nicely for the second straight night.

Maurice and Carlbe Ervin both had 4 points off the bench in the first half. The ‘Cats also led the rebound battle through the first 20 minutes and led 25-16.

The ‘Cats missed many opportunities to score in the first half. That would come back to haunt them.

Dean Wade opened the second half with a layup. It was a good sign but he wilted down the stretch and simply avoiding shooting when he was wide open.

Kansas State gave up back to back 3s with just over 14 minutes left and the West Virginia started a 10-zip run to pull within 39-37.

Kansas State had a tough time against the Mountaineer zone defense in the final minutes.

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D.J. Johnson’s first shot attempt didn’t come until almost 6 minutes left in the game. With 2 minutes left he got his first basket of the game.

Johnson 4th foul with twenty seconds left seemed questionable. The loss hurts.

I thought a Wildcat win would earn them an at large NCAA Tourney bid.

As a result, the loss probably has them in the play-in game. We’ll know for sure on Sunday afternoon.

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