KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Keyontae Johnson scored 23 points, snared 10 rebounds and had four steals as Kansas State won the 11th Wildcat Classic showcase beating Nebraska, 71-56 on Saturday night.
Kansas State improved to 10-1 under Jeremy Tang, who owns the best start by a first-year coach in school history. The Wildcats now are 9-2 in the classic and improved to 20-3 all-time against former conference foe Nebraska (6-6).
David N'Guessan dunked with a second left to send Kansas State into intermission with a 13-point advantage, 39-26 and pushed the lead to as much as 19 points after a Johnson layup with just under nine minutes left.
But the Wildcats' offense went silent for more than five minutes while Nebraska cut the deficit to nine, 59-50 before Nae'Qwan Tomlin drilled a 3 with 3:26 left. Jamarques Lawrence hit a 3 with 1:20 left to get the Cornhuskers within seven, 62-55, but they did not score again until Emmanuel Bandoumel hit the second of two free throws with 17 seconds left.
Johnson and Markquis Nowell came into the game averaging 31.4 points per game and is one of three duos to average more than 30 points per game in the Big 12. Nowell scored 11 points, delivered seven assists and had a pair of steals. The duo combined for 34 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists and six steals. Tomlin finished with 15 points and seven rebounds and Cam Carter added 10 points.
Wilhelm Breidenbach scored 13 points off the bench and was the lone Cornhusker to reach double-figure scoring. Juwan Gary pulled down 11 rebounds to go with his eight points. Nebraska was just 18 of 55 shooting from the floor (32.7%) and was 4 of 20 from beyond the arc.
