MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It was a 19-2 run that began by West Virginia leaving Kansas State big man Makol Mawien wide-open under the basket for a dunk.
It was a 19-2 run that sent most of a sparse WVU Coliseum crowd toward the exits.
It was a run that best exemplified why Kansas State resides at the top of the Big 12 standings and the Mountaineers are stuck at the bottom.
With the game tied at 42 with 11:55 remaining, Kansas State’s huge run propelled a 65-51 runaway victory.
BOXSCORE: K-State 65, West Virginia 51
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins joked that his team’s defense was so poor on Maiwen’s dunk that the refs should have called three seconds on him. “I think he was open under the basket for about eight seconds. We couldn’t find him.”
West Virginia forward Derek Culver said “that was a very big miscommunication” and blamed himself.
“I fell asleep a couple of times and let the guy get behind me. I’ll say that one was on me. My teammates were in the right position, but I fell asleep.”
For a spell of nearly six minutes during K-State’s surge, the Mountaineers’ offense nearly fell asleep too.
Meanwhile Xavier Sneed make three 3-pointers and two free throws, and Kamau Stokes hit a nice pull-up jumper and scored another from the wing.
Just as Kansas State coach Bruce Weber had hoped, West Virginia fell susceptible to the momentum swing. He had seen it before.
“West Virginia, if you watch them, there’s always a breaking point where someone takes it over,” Weber said. “They were playing with Tennessee, and then the Texas game was a four-point game at halftime, and then all of a sudden it’s a 16, 18-point game. I was surprised when I looked up at the scoreboard. Boom, we were up 14 points.”
Brandon Knapper’s transition layup with 6:34 left ended the Mountaineers scoring drought.
Disguised as a Big 12 basketball game, the first half was more tug-of-war, complete with two 3-second violations by the Mountaineers (10-16, 2-11 Big 12) as part of their 10 turnovers.
Kansas State (20-6, 10-3) was not much better, called for 12 fouls, most of them trying to handle Culver in the low post.
“We had no answer for Culver,” Weber said. “Except just keep putting more guys in to foul him, I guess.”
Neither team shot better than 40 percent from the field in the first half. Chase Harler’s 3-pointer with 1:16 remaining was the Mountaineers’ only field goal in the final 7:30 of the first half.
The highlight may have come with former WVU star Jevon Carter, now with the Memphis Grizzlies, making an appearance to donate $27,500 to the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment, which earned a nice ovation.
The pregame drama involved Kansas State forward Dean Wade showing up for warmups one game after re-injuring his foot that cost him six games earlier this season. The Big 12’s preseason Player of the Year was considered questionable but appeared in the Wildcats’ starting lineup and played 32 minutes.
“You just have to give him credit to come back,” Weber said. “Our trainers really put a lot of time in. Dean kind of shot free throws today. [Stokes] was banged up, too. He only shot around a little bit before the game. I’m proud of both of them. They both stepped and played the way they did. We needed them.”
Wade finished with 10 points and six rebounds. Stokes added seven points and three assists.
It was a complete opposite of the first meeting earlier this season, in which the Mountaineers raced out to a 21-point lead, before Kansas State scored 50 second-half points to pull off a comeback that began a nine-game Big 12 winning streak.
“It was a game-saving win for our season,” Weber said.
The Wildcats are now a full game ahead of Kansas and Texas Tech, who play each other Saturday.
West Virginia’s only makeshift goal is escaping last place, a spot they occupy after Oklahoma State knocked off TCU.
“I thought we played hard,” Huggins said. “We had some breakdowns that let them make a spread in the game. I don’t think our errors were a lack of hustle, but we have to do a better job of sticking with the game plan. You’re not going to win a game shooting 34 percent. We have to make shots.”
Culver was again one of West Virginia’s few bright spots, finishing with his sixth double-double (11 points and 13 rebounds). It was his fifth consecutive game with at least 10 rebounds.
The Mountaineers shot 35 percent (18-of-52) and turned it over 15 times, their fourth consecutive game shooting under 40 percent. Their four straight losses have come by an average of 23 points.
Lamont West, now mixing in more of a low-post game after forwards Esa Ahmas and Wes Harris were dismissed from the team last week, led West Virginia with 16 points.
Kansas State, which shot 50 percent in the second half, was led by Barry Brown’s 21 points and Sneed’s 19.