Kansas State University Athletics
Kansas State University
8-4, 0-1
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Kansas
10-2, 2-0
K-State battles hard, but falls to Kansas, 73-67
Jan 14, 2004 | Men's Basketball
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- Wayne Simien scored 19 points and Keith Langford added 17, and No. 14 Kansas held off Kansas State's second-half comeback for a 73-67 victory Wednesday night. Junior guard Michael Lee, who missed nine games with a broken collarbone, hit four clutch free throws and scored a career-high 16 points for Kansas (10-2, 2-0 Big 12), which looked rusty after an eight-day layoff but still beat the Wildcats for the 27th straight time.
Kansas State (8-4, 0-1) has not beaten the Jayhawks since Jan. 17, 1994. The Wildcats also lost their 12th straight road game, a streak dating to January 2003.
They didn't go easily, though.
The Wildcats converted an intentional foul charged to Simien into five points over the span of less than a minute, cutting Kansas' lead to 63-58 with 4:11 left.
After Simien was charged with fouling Marques Hayden hard as both jumped for a high bounce, Hayden hit one of two free throws. Tim Ellis hit the first of his two free throws after being fouled by Langford on the ensuing possession, and Justin Williams rebounded the missed second free throw to set up Frank Richards' 3-pointer.
Two straight baskets by Hayden got the Wildcats within 67-63 with 1:55 left. But Simien hit a hook shot from the lane with 1:39 to go and Lee was 4-for-4 from the line in the final minute to seal Kansas' closest victory in the series since a 62-59 win on Jan. 4, 1997.
Kansas was without freshman center David Padgett, out for at least a week with a stress fracture in his left foot, but Jeff Graves had 11 points and nine rebounds in a reserve role.
Aaron Miles had a season-high 11 assists for the Jayhawks.
Richards led Kansas State with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Ellis added 16 points, Jeremiah Massey 12 and Hayden 10.
Junior forward Dramane Diarra, who had been suspended since the start of the season while the NCAA investigated his eligibility, started for Kansas State. The NCAA ruled Sunday that his time with a team in his native France did not count as professional play.
Diarra, a junior college transfer, had four points and five rebounds in the first half but got into foul trouble early in the second. He didn't score and had only one more rebound after the break, fouling out with just under 8 1/2 minutes left.
The Jayhawks led 27-20 on Lee's basket with 6 1/2 minutes left in the first half but then didn't score again for more than 4 minutes. Kansas State went up 29-27 on Massey's shot from the lane with 2:22 left, but struggled against Kansas' press for the rest of the half.
After Lee's 3-pointer capped Kansas' 9-0 run and gave the Jayhawks a 36-29 lead with a minute remaining in the half, Ellis hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left in the half for Kansas State.
