Florida Atlantic's Cinderella story continues and Kansas State basketball's dream ends, 79-76

NEW YORK — Florida Atlantic took the lead with a 15-1 run in the second half, then held off a furious Kansas State rally down the stretch Saturday night to end the Wildcats' season with a 79-76 East Regional championship victory at Madison Square Garden.

Michael Forrest hit four free throws in the last 17.9 seconds to keep FAU ahead, and K-State could not get a final shot off to tie it.

Alijah Martin scored 17 points, Bryan Greenlee 16 and Vlad Goldin 14 with 13 rebounds to lead FAU, which improved to 35-3 and advances to the Final Four for the first time in school history. Markquis Nowell, who was named most outstanding player in the regional, had 30 points and 12 assists in his final game for K-State, with Nae'Qwan Tomlin adding 14 points and six rebounds.

K-State (26-10) was outrebounded by FAU, 44-22, and also struggled at the free-throw line, going 12 of 18. Keyontae Johnson, the Wildcats' leading scorer for the season, spent most of the game in foul trouble and fouled out with 2:44 left after logging just 18 minutes

K-State had a chance to take control of the game after putting together a 13-3 run to lead 57-50 on Tomlin's layup with 12 minutes left. The Wildcats still led 63-57 on a Nowell 3-pointer at the 8:35 mark, but that's when it started to unravel.

Over the next six minutes, FAU went limited the Wildcats to one free throws and six missed field goals and led led 72-64 on two Martin free throws at the 2:44 mark. After Nowell ended the drought with a 3-pointer, K-State had two chances to get the ball back, only to give up defensive rebounds.

Forrest's two free throws with 6.9 seconds left put FAU up, 79-76, but when Nowell tried to get the ball to Ismael Massoud. Massoud did not handle it cleanly against a clinging Owl defense and never got a look at the basket.

Wildcats trail by one

Nae'Qwan Tomlin scores with 8.6 seconds left to pull K-State within one at 77-76. Clock says 8.6 seconds

Cam Carter 3 gets K-State within one

Kansas State has battled back from an eight-point deficit to within a point on Cam Carter's 3-pointer with 22.8 seconds left. Wildcat timeout, FAU ball.

FAU with a chance to blow it open, leading 65-63

Florida Atlantic has scored eight straight points and is going to the free-throw line with three shots at the 4:00 mark. Keyontae Johnson, who is playing with four fouls, just missed the front end of a one-and-one for K-State, which is 1 of 4 from the line this half.

FAU on a 7-0 run, grabs the lead with 5:36 left

Big man Vlad Golden rebounds a missed 3-pointer and dunks to give Florida Atlantic a 64-63 lead. The Owls have scored seven straight and are shooting free throws after the media timeout at 5:36.

Goldin has been a matchup nightmare for K-State with 14 points and 12 renounds.

K-State sqanders chance to blow it open

Kansas State had two chances to stretch a six-point lead, but came up empty, and Florida Atlantic as scored the last five, cutting it to 63-62 on a Brandon Witherspoon 3-pointer and forcing the Wildcats to call timeout with 6:51 left.

Good news, bad news for K-State

Kansas State is on a 13-3 run and leads 57-50 with 11:36 left. Markquis Nowell has 21 points and 11 assists. The bad news for the Wildcats is that Keontae Johnson is on the bench after picking up his fourth foul at the 14:10 mark.

Johnson was off to a good start in the half, scoring seven points before going to the bench. David N'Guessan also has three fouls for the Wildcats.

K-State leads 49-47, but in foul trouble

Keyontae Johnson, who played just eight minutes in the first half before picking up his second foul, scored four quick points to start the second for K-State, but then picked up his third personal with 17:22 left while diving for a loose ball. Soon after, David N'Guessan got his third personal.

Still, K-State leads, 49-47, on a Markquis Nowell 3-pointer. We have 15:30 left and Nowell has 18 points, nine assists.

Wildcats trail at the half, 42-38

Markquis Nowell finds Desi Sills for a layup at the buzzer and K-State cuts Florida Atlantic's lead to 42-38 at the half.

FAU shot 53.6% in the first half and made all eight of its free throws. The Owls also outrebounded K-State, 22-9, but shot themselves in the foot with 12 turnovers.

K-State shot 46.7% and matched FAU's four 3-pointers. The Wildcats were 6 of 8 from the foul line and also had a missed breakaway layup from Desi Sills.

For FAU, Alijah Martin led a balanced attack with nine points, while Bryan Greenle and Vlad Goldin each had eight. Goldin also had eight rebounds. Markquis Nowell leads K-State with 15 points and seven assists, and Sills has nine points.

K-State did get to halftime within striking distance, despite going the last minutes without leading scorer Keyontae Johnson. Johnson had just two points before picking up his second foul with 12:01 to go in the period.

Florida Atlantic had a 7-2 edge in second-chance points, but K-State enjoyed an 18-9 edge on points off turnovers.

Costly misses for K-State have FAU up four

Kansas State's Ismael Massoud missed the front end of a one-and-one, and moments later Desi Sills missed a wide-open transition layup off a steal after deciding not to dunk it. The Wildcats also squandered another scoring opportunity when they forced a turnover and promptly gave it back.

Florida Atlantic leads 40-36 and has the ball with 43.5 seconds left in the half.

Markquis Nowell taking over for Wildcats

Markquis Nowell is taking control for K-State and the Wildcats are on a 10-3 run. We're tied at 34-34 with 4:00 left in the half and Nowell already has 13 points and six assists.

That's big for the Wildcats, with Keyontae Johnson continuing to sit on the bench with two fouls.

Fouls adding up for K-State

With 7:58 left in the half, Florida Atlantic is going back to the free-throw line. K-State already has nine fouls, including two each for Keyontae Johnson, David N'Guessan and Cam Carter.

FAU, which is shooting 55.6%, leads the Wildcats, 26-22. K-State is shooting 45%, but is being outrebounded, 15-4, by the Owls.

FAU rebounds and turnovers

We're tied at 7-7 with 15:52 left in the first half. Both teams are 3 of 7 shooting with one 3-pointer. Florida Atlantic has four offensive rebounds, but also four turnovers.

No lineup changes for Kansas State

Kansas State will go with its usual starting lineup of guards Markquis Nowell, Cam Carter and Desi Sills, along with forwards Keyontae Johnson and Nae'Qwan Tomlin.

Florida Atlantic's lineup consists of guards Johnell Davis, Nick Boyd, Bryan Greenlee and Alijah Martin, surrounding 7-foot-1 center Vlad Goldin.

K-State in lucky home whites

As has been the case throughout the tournament so far, Kansas State will wear its white uniforms, trimmed in purple and lavender, with Wildcats in script across the chest.

Florida Atlantic will counter with all red uniforms.

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 men's basketball vs. Florida Atlantic live blog