Video: Iowa State, Kansas Advance to Big 12 Tournament Championship Game
Heartland College Sports is live at the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament and our hoops writer, Matthew Postins, posted live inside the Sprint Center after the Big 12 semifinal games, in which Kansas defeated West Virginia and Iowa State defeated Kansas State.
Iowa State won the early game, 63-59, behind 21 points from Marial Shayok, who hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with less than a minute left. The Cyclones also received 12 points from Nick Weiler-Babb and a whopping 14 rebounds from Michael Jacobson. Lindell Wigginton added 9 points off the bench. Kansas State, without forward Dean Wade again, inserted Cartier Diarra into the starting lineup and he led with 15 points. In fact, the Wildcats had five players in double figures, but it wasn’t enough.
Kansas, meanwhile, pulled away from West Virginia, 88-74, as the Jayhawks ended the Mountaineers’ Cinderella story. Quentin Grimes helped the Jayhawks to an 8-point halftime lead by scoring 16 first-half points, including five 3-pointers that helped Kansas to a 16-4 to end the first half. Dedric Lawson had 24 points and 8 rebounds, while Devon Dotson added 13 points and Marcus Garrett had 11.
West Virginia got 16 points from Lamont West, 14 points and 11 rebounds from Derek Culver and 10 points from Brandon Knapper.
The Cyclones and the Jayhawks will meet in the Championship game at 6 p.m. EST on Saturday. Be sure to stick with HeartlandCollegeSports.com for the preview of that game, along with coverage of the remainder of the tournament.
