Kansas State Wildcats vs West Virginia Mountaineers Box Score on Feb 18, 2019

Kansas State used a big second-half run to pull away for a 65-51 victory over West Virginia on Monday night in Morgantown, W.Va., allowing the No. 23 Wildcats to move a full game ahead of Texas Tech and Kansas in the Big 12 Conference with five games remaining.

Kansas State (20-6, 10-3 Big 12) was led by Barry Brown's 21 points and Xavier Sneed added 19 points. Dean Wade, who was not expected to play because of a foot injury sustained Saturday in a loss to Iowa State, had 10 points and six rebounds.

Even though foul trouble led the Wildcats to play 13 players, they got all but two points from their starters.

WVU Coliseum had been a house of horrors for Kansas State, which was 1-5 all-time there entering Monday.

Kansas State surged to its largest lead at 42-35 with 13:13 to play, but West Virginia answered with a game-tying 7-0 run with Brown and Wade on the bench. Wildcats coach Bruce Weber then called timeout and got his two stars back in the game, at which point Kansas State responded with a 14-0 run over a four-plus-minute span to pull away.

West Virginia (10-16, 2-11) was led by Lamont West's 16 points. Derek Culver had 11 points and 13 rebounds while Brandon Knapper had 10 points.

Kansas State had trouble stopping Culver without fouling him. The Wildcats picked up their sixth foul of the second half with 15:03 left in regulation (giving them 18 for the game), and three of their big men had 11 of the fouls. Backups James Love and Levi Stockard each had four fouls by the first media timeout of the second half.

The Wildcats picked up seven fouls in the first six minutes of the first half. They finished the first half with 12 fouls.

The first half was sluggish for both offenses. Kansas State shot just 39.3 percent and West Virginia connected on just 37.5 percent of its shots. Kansas State took a 30-28 lead into the half. West Virginia led by as many as six points, but the Wildcats responded with a quick 9-2 run to regain the lead.

West Virginia was led by West with nine first-half points and Culver with eight. Kansas State was led by Brown with 10 points before halftime while Wade had eight.

For the game, the Wildcats outshot the Mountaineers from the floor, 44.4 percent to 34.6 percent.

--Field Level Media