The bench for Kansas State stepped up Tuesday night and helped carry the Wildcats to a 66-58 victory over Texas Tech.

Kansas State’s leading scorers didn’t have the touch Tuesday night. Marcus Foster went 0-8 from three point range. Shane Southwell finished with four points going 0-6 from three point range, and Thomas Gipson sat out nearly half of the second half in foul trouble and finished with 7 points.

Will Spradling led the Wildcats with 17 points, shooting 4-9 from the field and 7-8 from the free throw line. Spradling also sank two of the three 3-point shots the Wildcats had in the game. Nino Williams came off the bench and added 13 points shooting 5-7 from the field and a perfect 3-3 from the charity stripe. After the game Coach Weber said he though Spradling was more relaxed, “and trying to enjoy the last part of the season, his senior year.”Spradling echoed that, “I feel a lot more relaxed when I shoot. I felt like I was kind of rushing it, the floor. At the free throw line I’ve really slowed myself down and that’s helped out a lot.”

Texas Tech came out in the second half and cut into the Wildcats 12 point half time lead and with 7:16 to play got back within one 48-47, however a 6-0 run by K-State put the Wildcats back up seven 54-47 with 4:37 to play. K-State’s defense never let the Red Raider’s get back within four and K-State held out for the 66-58 victory.

Tubby Smith, Texas Tech Head Coach, said that it was K-State’s bench that impressed him, “They scored 25 points. I thought that they were very impressive. I thought (Omari) Lawrence and (Nino) Williams did a very good job. We knew they had a deep bench, and they utilized it very effectively.”

K-State moved to 15-6 on the season and 5-3 in the Big 12. They will now travel to West Virginia Saturday to take on the Mountaineers in a 12:30 p.m. tip.