Cougars  72    Wildcats  84

Recap: Kansas State vs. B-Y-U

Sports Network | March 21, 2010

Oklahoma City, OK (Sports Network) - Jacob Pullen scored a career-high 34 points, and Kansas State gained energy from a late first-half run to beat BYU, 84-72, in a second-round game from the West Region in the NCAA Tournament.

Denis Clemente added 19 points, and Curtis Kelly scored 10 for the second- seeded Wildcats (28-7), who advanced to Salt Lake City to play in the Sweet 16 against the winner of Sunday's game between third seed Pittsburgh and sixth seed Xavier. Pullen, who made all 11 of his foul shots, went 7-of-12 from three-point range.

"We knew our defensive presence could bother them if we got into pressure," Pullen said. "We knew if we stood still and they passed the ball around and shot threes, it would be a long night for us. We just really had to key in on our defense, and we got comfortable on the offensive side and got the shots we wanted to really control the game."

This is the best showing for Kansas State in the tourney since losing to in- state rival Kansas in a regional final in 1988. Incidentally, the Wildcats are the last team remaining from the Sunflower State, as the Kansas Jayhawks, the top overall seed, were upset by Northern Iowa on Saturday.

Jimmer Fredette had 21 points for the seventh-seeded Cougars (30-6), who haven't won two games in a single NCAA Tournament year since 1981, when they fell to Virginia in a regional final. Tyler Haws had 14 points, and Jackson Emery 13 in defeat.

Coming into this year, BYU had lost eight straight NCAA Tournament games. After defeating No. 10 seed Florida in a thrilling double-overtime game on Thursday, BYU scored the first 10 points against the Wildcats but gave up the lead late in the first half and never recovered.

"They're an aggressive team defensively," Fredette said. "We knew they were going to get up in us, and they started double-teaming me even in the backcourt. And as soon as I got over half-court, I was just trying to get it up to the teammates and trying to have them be aggressive as well."

Emery hit consecutive three-pointers for a 10-0 BYU lead, but the Wildcats pushed back and used a 12-2 spurt to take their first lead of the night. Clemente had the first five points of the burst, which was capped by Pullen's three-ball with 4 1/2 minutes left for a 28-27 advantage.

"Offensively, we just had to get in transition," Pullen said. "That's our best offense at the beginning of the game, just get in transition so we can get into a flow."

Brandon Davies sank a layup to put BYU ahead again, but K-State scored the ensuing 10 points, with Pullen responsible for eight of them. He outscored BYU all by himself, 14-8, over the last five minutes of the half, as the Wildcats gained a 41-31 margin.

A Pullen three-pointer moved the lead to 50-40 inside 16 minutes, but the Cougars closed the gap to 55-50 with nearly 11 minutes left on a layup from Michael Loyd Jr. BYU never got any closer.

The Cougars still had hope inside four minutes left by trimming the margin to 68-61 on a pair of Fredette foul shots, but Pullen drilled another three-ball and then made a nifty no-look pass for a breakaway layup from Dominique Sutton for a 73-61 cushion with about two minutes left.

Kansas State, which beat North Texas in round one, will play Thursday at Energy Solutions Arena, home of the NBA's Utah Jazz...This marked the 35th game of the season for K-State, which tied the 2006-07 squad for the most in school history.