Kansas State 59 George Mason 58.

This was not a close game early on but in the closing minutes that changed. The Wildcats led by 20 points in the second half after a first half that saw them jump out to a 36-16 lead at the break. But in the second half the Patriots kept plugging away while shooting 55 percent from the field and hitting 5 of 7 free throws.

The outcome came down to the closing seconds, with the Wildcats leading by one and George Mason possessing the basketball. But K-State stole the ball only to turn it back over to the Patriots ( 6-7 ) after a double dribble call with 1.2 seconds remaining. On their ensuing possession after two timeouts George Mason had the basketball stolen again, preserving the victory for Kansas State at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State coach Bruce Weber noted the Patriots scored 42 points in the second half and a lot of those were off turnovers. “they had 15 points off of turnovers, we only had one or two turnovers by halftime. Most of those points probably, that got their head in it that they could make a couple of layups then make a couple of threes. They had one three at the half and then they make five in the second half.

Weber noted the Wildcats got a little casual in the second half.  “When we took care of the ball in the first half we were really good. I thought the first 20-27 minutes were a good basketball team. ” He stated in the second half the Patriots had a final stretch where they just kept running the same play and getting to the basket and made shots. The K-State coach also credited the Patriots with picking up the pressure some.

Senior Kamau Stokes became the 30th player in Kansas State history to reach 1,000 career points, eclipsing the mark with a free throw with 30 seconds left in the first half. He joins teammates Barry Brown Jr. and Dean Wade to become the first senior class in school history to each top 1,000 career points.

Kansas State ( 10-2 ) hosts Texas in their Big 12 opener Wednesday night.