K-State tops Fort Hays State in exhibition

Kansas State closed out its exhibition schedule with a 70-52 victory against Fort Hays State on Friday at Bramlage Coliseum.

It was far from a perfect effort from the Wildcats, as the Division-II Tigers made them sweat at times in the second half. Still, K-State coach Bruce Weber will take the result.

With so many new faces on the roster, he wasn’t sure what to expect from his team in a pair of dress rehearsals before the regular season begins next week. Weber privately wondered if they might lose one. Instead, they rolled to two lopsided victories.

“Some good things, but a lot to learn,” Weber said. “Our young guys, it is a learning process for them. I am not making excuses, but second exhibition games are always tough. Last week we had a little bit of nerves, but we were ready to play and had something to prove. This week, we weren’t quite there.”

You couldn’t tell by the way the game began. K-State got off to a strong start, bombarding Fort Hays State with three straight three-pointers and never surrendering the lead.

K-State junior guard Wesley Iwundu led all scorers for the second straight game. This time he had 17 points and six rebounds. His highlight moment came on a fastbreak in the first half, when he took a behind-the-back pass from Kamau Stokes and slammed home a one-handed dunk.

Justin Edwards added 14 points and five rebounds for the Wildcats, while Stephen Hurt made all six of his shots on his way to 13 points and seven rebounds.

Much like in their first exhibition victory, an 80-42 rout of Emporia State, the Wildcats spread the ball around and took care of business.

But it wasn’t all positive. K-State won the rebounding battle 38-35, but Fort Hays State looked like the more physical and aggressive team inside. Its players regularly attacked K-State’s forwards and did enough to cut K-State’s lead down to 39-34 less than 4 minutes into the second half on an and-one layup from Craig Nicholson.

The Wildcats responded and pulled away behind an offensive outburst of their own, but that might not be so easy against stronger competition.

Weber said he wants to see K-State improve on offense over the next week. The defense was good, holding Fort Hays State to 34 percent shooting. But K-State only made 42.4 percent of its shots.

Hurt said the Wildcats will try to attack the glass more aggressively next time, too.

“We definitely could have rebounded better,” Hurt said. “That is going to be an emphasis going on, crashing the boards. We have a pretty lengthy team, so we should have the advantage on the boards in most games. But we definitely need to work harder.”

K-State will have plenty of motivation this week in practice.

Next, it’s on to bigger and much more important things. The regular season begins Friday with a home game against Maryland-Eastern Shore.

“We got a little test (Friday), but it is always good to see where guys are at when you get into crunch time,” Iwundu said. “I think we will be ready for the season with a little more practice.”

Kellis Robinett: @KellisRobinett

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 10:40 PM with the headline "K-State tops Fort Hays State in exhibition."