No. 6 Kansas State holds back Missouri
The Tigers fell at No. 6 Kansas State 63-53 Saturday night and missed a chance to move into second place in the Big 12 with a victory. Missouri fell to 21-8 overall and 9-5 in conference play.
Behind Kansas and Kansas State, Missouri sits in a three-way tie for third with Baylor and Texas A&M, teams that beat Missouri earlier in the season.
In a grind-it-out game, both the Tigers and Wildcats finished 32.8 percent from the floor as Missouri put up its lowest point total since its 59-52 loss to Richmond on Nov. 28.
Sophomore guard Kim English led all Tiger scorers with 13 points and Wildcat sophomore forward Jamar Samuels was tops among all scorers with 14. Missouri senior forward Keith Ramsey racked up eight points and pulled down nine rebounds.
Taking advantage of Kansas State’s cold shooting, the Tigers held the lead for most of the first half. The Wildcats fought back to tie the game at 23 with 1:32 left and the score stayed tied until halftime.
The Wildcats kept Missouri back the majority of the second half with the help of some of its 21 free throws. Kansas State ended up at the line for a total of 34 free throw attempts.
Missouri will be at Iowa State Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tip before coming to Mizzou Arena Saturday to end the regular season with Kansas.