Kansas State held on to beat Arizona State 71-70 for its fourth straight victory after the Sun Devils’ Jayden Quaintance missed two free throws with 4.1 seconds left on Tuesday in Tempe, Ariz.
Quaintance was fouled by David N’Guessan while driving to the basket after picking up a loose ball following a scramble. After a timeout, Quaintance missed the free throws and Kansas State avoided a foul before the buzzer sounded.
N’Guessan finished with 22 points and eight rebounds to lead Kansas State (11-11, 5-6 Big 12).
Arizona State (12-10, 3-8) scored the first 15 points of game yet still wound up with its second loss in a row.
The game had drastic runs. Kansas State countered its early deficit with a 22-6 surge that produced a 35-32 halftime lead.
The Wildcats pushed their lead to 53-43 with 9:13 remaining before Arizona State rallied. The Sun Devils took a 67-66 lead with 1:51 left after making six straight shots, the last two of them layups by BJ Freeman.
Coleman Hawkins made a 3-pointer and N’Guessan hit two free throws to give Kansas State a 71-67 lead with 54 seconds remaining.
After Alston Mason, who led Arizona State with 20 points, converted a three-point play with 42 seconds left, Kansas State’s Dug McDaniel missed a 3-point attempt.
That led to the scramble for the loose ball in which Quaintance was fouled by N’Guessan.
Arizona State led 15-0 behind two 3-pointers by Freeman, who was allowed to play by the Big 12 after being ejected from the Sun Devils’ loss against Arizona on Saturday for head-butting Caleb Love in the last minute.
On Tuesday, Arizona State’s Adam Miller was ejected after a flagrant-2 foul in the second half after he and McDaniel got in a verbal exchange.
Kansas State missed its first nine shots from the field before Max Jones (15 points) made a jumper with 13:03 left in the first half.
Arizona State led 23-11 with 6:35 remaining in the half before Kansas State made nine consecutive shots, including three layups by N’Guessan.
Jones’ 3-pointer with 42.1 seconds left capped the stretch and put Kansas State ahead by three.
Arizona State got 15 points from Basheer Jihad and 14 from Freeman.
–Field Level Media
