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No. 21 West Virginia rallies to hand Kansas State its fifth straight loss
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Another strong effort from its bench helped stop No. 21 West Virginia's tailspin in February.
Reserve Brandon Watkins scored a career-high 14 points and West Virginia surrendered a double-digit lead before recovering for a 76-72 win over Kansas State on Wednesday night.
West Virginia (19-5, 7-4 Big 12) snapped a two-game losing streak and handed the Wildcats their fifth straight loss.
Kansas State (12-13, 5-7) scored 12 unanswered points to take a 69-67 lead late, but the Wildcats scored three the rest of the game.
"We needed this win," West Virginia's Gary Browne said. "But at the same time it was ugly. We should have won by 20."
Juwan Staten added 11 points and reserves Jaysean Paige and Jevon Carter had 10 apiece for West Virginia. The Mountaineers' bench outscored the Wildcats' 47-19.
"Their bench just wears you down," Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said.
It was the first game scoring in double figures this season for Watkins, who has averaged only seven minutes of playing time off the bench. His game-high nine rebounds were more than one-third of his previous total for the entire season.
"I think he got tired of sitting on the bench and did something about it," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
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But Huggins said Watkins may have been injured late in the game. Huggins didn't specify the injury and indicated he would know more Thursday.
Watkins made a pair of baskets and two free throws over a two-minute stretch to put West Virginia ahead 61-50 with 11:17 remaining. But he didn't score the rest of the game and the Mountaineers got careless.
West Virginia missed five straight free throws and didn't score over a three-minute span to allow Kansas State to mount its comeback.
Nigel Johnson made two layups and two free throws in 11 seconds, and Nino Williams capped the 12-0 run with a layup and free throw with 2:25 left to give Kansas State its first lead since early in the game.
"We kept fighting back and eventually we got over the hump and got a lead," Weber said. "I was hoping and praying that some good things would happen, but they made more plays and that's the difference in the game."
Nathan Adrian made two free throws and Devin Williams' second basket of the game put West Virginia ahead to stay at 71-69 with 1:51 left.
After the teams traded a free throw apiece, Johnson was called for an intentional foul with 20 seconds left. Carter made both free throws, Browne added two more with 10 seconds left and the Mountaineers held on.
West Virginia shot 28 percent from the floor after halftime.
"We're pretty good at bad shot selection," Huggins said. "I'm going to say today was a win, but it was frustrating."
Nino Williams, who missed most of the teams' first meeting last month with a left knee injury, led Kansas State with 22 points. Johnson and Justin Edwards scored 14 apiece and Thomas Gipson had 10.
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TIP-INS
Kansas State: The Wildcats' losing streak is their longest since dropping six in a row in the 2004-05 season. Kansas State did break a streak of four straight games scoring fewer than 60 points. ... Kansas State leading scorer Marcus Foster and reserve forward Malek Harris sat out their third straight games since being suspended Feb. 4 for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
West Virginia: 10 different players scored in the first half when the Mountaineers shot 62 percent from the floor. ... Tarik Phillip missed a two-handed dunk and was called for goaltending while trying to corral the missed shot as it rattled around the rim in the first half. ... West Virginia made its first seven field-goal tries, three of them 3-pointers. The Mountaineers entered the game last in the Big 12 in 3-point shooting at 29 percent.
EXTRA WORK
Staten returned to the court 45 minutes after the game ended and shot several free throws. He went five of 10 from the line in the game, missing a pair of free throws both with 2:39 and 19 seconds left.
UP NEXT
West Virginia plays at No. 14 Iowa State on Saturday.
Kansas State hosts No. 17 Oklahoma on Saturday.
