P.J. Haggerty scored 23 of his 24 points in the second half and added eight rebounds as Kansas State defeated Louisiana-Monroe 94-85 on Sunday afternoon in Manhattan, Kan.

Haggerty, held to a single point and 0-for-6 shooting in the opening stanza, got going quickly to open the second, hitting a pair of free throws, completing a traditional three-point play, then connecting on two more layups to give him a quick nine points as Kansas State used a 15-6 run to take a 61-42 lead.

Abdi Bashir Jr. scored 11 for Kansas State (9-4), which also got 14 points and six rebounds from Nate Johnson and nine points and six assists from Elias Rapieque. The Wildcats, who won their fourth in a row, had 25 assists on 33 made field goals.

Louisiana-Monroe (3-11) refused to buckle after K-State’s big surge, as the Warhawks used a 13-1 run to cut the deficit to 70-62. Krystian Lewis made six free throws during the push as part of his 25-point day.

Lavell Brodnex chipped in 21 points and eight rebounds for the Warhawks, who have lost four straight. MJ Russell had 17 points and five rebounds.

Following a pair of Haggerty free throws, a sloppy sequence led to a wide open Lewis 3-pointer, drawing the Warhawks within seven at 72-65 with 7:54 left. Louisiana-Monroe then cut it to 87-83 with 3:14 to play on a Brodnex layup.

Johnson answered with a 3-pointer, and the Wildcats closed it out from there.

The Warhawks got off to a hot start, building an 11-5 lead over the first three minutes, which Russell capped with a stepback 3-pointer.

The visitors maintained their advantage for much of the first half, shooting 50% from the field and getting 11 points (on 17 attempts) at the free-throw line. Brodnex paced all scorers with 15 points at the break.

Kansas State finally regained the lead at 26-24 on a 3-pointer by Taj Manning with 7:08 to play in the half. The Wildcats then ripped off an 8-0 run capped by a Khamari McGriff layup to go up 36-28 at the 3:33 mark.

David Castillo hit a layup with 18 seconds left to provide Kansas State a 46-36 lead at halftime.

–Field Level Media