Recap: Kansas State basketball ends skid with much-needed 61-55 victory over Iowa State

MANHATTAN — It took a half, but the Kansas State Wildcats got their mojo back.

After trailing by eight at intremission, the No. 14-ranked Wildcats outscored Iowa State 14-3 to start the second period and hung on for a much-needed 61-55 victory over the No. 18 Cyclones on Saturday at Bramlage Coliseum.

With the win, K-State improved to 20-7 overall and 8-6 in the Big 12. Iowa State fell to 17-9, 8-6.

Markquis Nowell, who was limited to two free throws in the first half, led the comeback for K-State by scoring 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second period. He also had six rebounds and five assists.

The Wildcats also got 15 points and six rebounds from Keyontae Johnson and nine points off the bench from Ismael Massoud.

For Iowa State, which shot just 30.6% for the game and 21.9% in the second half, Jaz Kunc had 15 points and five rebounds and Gab Kalscheur 11 points. Point guard Tamin Lipsey scored nine points with seven rebounds and five assists, but turned the ball over six times.

K-State is back at home Tuesday to face Baylor at 6 p.m.

Below are comments and analysis from the live blog during Saturday's game:

Wildcats looking to hang on

Iowa State's Tavin Lipsey with two straight turnovers, and Nae'Qwan Tomlin's layup off a pass from Keyontae Johnson puts K-State in front, 57-50.

Cyclones call timeout with 1:12 left.

K-State clinging to lead

Markquis Nowell hits two free throws with 2:19 left and the Wildcats call timeout, leading 55-50.

Wildcats and Cyclones down to the wire

Kansas State continues to cling to a 49-46 lead, but Iowa State's Tre King is going to the free-throw line for two shots with 3:37 left.

Points have been hard to come by with precious few uncontested shots. K-State is shooting 38.1% in the second half and Iowa State 23.1%. The Cyclones have started to flex their muscles on the board again, now outrebounding K-State in the half, 17-15, and for the game, 38-30.

Kansas State continues to lead, 45-41

Iowa State has gone stone cold in the second half, shooting just 23.5% and missing all five 3-point tries, allowing Kansas State to open a 45-41 lead with 7:58 left. The Wildcats are 4 of 9 from 3-point range, though all of them came in the opening minutes of the period.

Kansas State has turned momentum in second half

Kansas State has made four of its last five shots and now leads Iowa State, 41-38, with 11:37 left.

The Wildcats are 6 of 11 shooting in the period, to just 3 of 12 for Iowa State, which has missed all five of its shot in the period. K-State also has outrebounded the Cyclones so far in the half, 9-4.

Wildcats surge into lead to start second half

Kansas State has come out on fire to start the second half, knocking down four 3-pointers — three by Markquis Nowell — during a 14-3 run to take the lead.

The Wildcats hold a 37-36 advantage at the first media timeout of the second half with 14:27 left.

Iowa State closes first half strong to lead 31-23

Iowa State used a 14-6 run to close the first half and take a 31-23 advantage to the break.

The Cyclones picked up their offensive efficiency late in the half to shoot 40%, while K-State slipped to 30.4. Iowa State also had a 21-15 rebounding advantage, including 8-3 on the offensive boards, for a 7-5 edge in second-chance points.

Jaz Kunc led all scorers with 10 points in the half for Iowa State, followed by Tamin Lipsey and Gabe Kalscheur with six each. Lipsey also had four rebounds and four assists.

For K-State, Keyontae Johnson had eight points in the period and Ismael Massoud seven. Markquis Nowell was limited to two free throws and one assist, though he did have four rebounds.

K-State had just three assists in the half on seven made baskets.

Intentional foul sparks Iowa State run

After Kansas State finally gets the game tied at 17 on a Keyontae Johnson fast-break layup, Iowa State uses an unusual foul call on the Wildcats to spark a seven-point spurt.

On a missed Jaren Holmes 3-pointer, K-State's Desi Sills is whistled for an intentional foul while blocking out, leading to two free throws and a jumper for Jaz Kunc. A Gabe Kalscheur 3-pointer extends the Cyclone lead to 24-17 with 3:56 left in the half.

Both defenses locked in to start the game

Neither team is finding anything easy on the offensive end in the first 12 1/2 minutes.

Iowa State leads 15-13, but is shooting just 33.3%, including 1-for-8 from 3-point range. K-State is slightly better at 38.5% and 2 of 5 from three, but the Wildcats have now turned the ball over five times.

Wildcats answer Iowa State run, trail 12-10

After Iowa State reeled off 10 straight points, including a three-point play from Jaz Kunc and a Gabe Kalescheur 3-pointer, K-State came back with five straight and has trimmed the Cyclone lead to 12-10 with 11:39 left in the half.

The Wildcats got a much-needed 3-pointer from guard Cam Carter, who had not scored in the two previous games. Wildcats 4 of 9 shooting and Iowa State 5 of 11.

A slow start at Bramlage

Kansas State and Iowa State are off to a slow start, with neither team shooting well as we're tied 5-5 with 15:18 left in the half. K-State is 2 of 5 and has missed both of its 3-point attempts, while Iowa State is 2-for-7, 0-for-2 from three.

Each team has four rebounds, and Iowa State has two turnovers to one for K-State, an encouraging sign for the turnover-prone Wildcats.

Lineup change for Kansas State

Kansas State coach Jerome Tang makes a change to his usual starting lineup for the game, going with senior guard Desi Sills in place of forward David N'Guessan. The rest of the lineup — Markquis Nowell, Cam Carter, Keyontae Johnson and Nae'Qwan Tomlin remains the same.

N'Guessan had not scored in either of the previous two games, but was limited to two minutes because of illness Tuesday at Oklahoma. Carter also has gone two games without scoring.

K-State sporting all white at home

Kansas State, which has favored its lavender uniforms both at home and on the road of late, is dressed in all white for today's game against Iowa State.

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball beats Iowa State to end Big 12 skid