MANHATTAN, Kan. — Khamari McGriff scored 18 points, and Nate Johnson scored 16 points as Kansas State delivered another blow to West Virginia’s NCAA Tournament hopes by holding off the Mountaineers, 65-63, on Tuesday night.
Reserve Chance Moore scored 18 points, Brenen Lorient scored 14 points, reserve DJ Thomas 12 and Honor Huff 11 for West Virginia.
It was the first win of the season for the Wildcats in which they didn’t score at least 81 points.
PJ Haggerty, the nation’s third-leading scorer, was unexpectedly scratched from the Wildcats’ lineup posted an hour-and-a-half before tip-off. Haggerty wasn’t listed on the team’s initial availability report released Monday.
Kansas State said in a release that Haggerty sustained an injury in practice in recent days. He’s listed day-to-day ahead of Saturday’s matchup at Kansas. Haggerty, the Wildcats’ starting point guard, entered Tuesday night second in the Big 12 in scoring, averaging 23.3 points per game.
Despite his absence, Kansas State (12-18, 3-14) used a 21-0 run to take a 48-31 lead with 10:53 remaining, its longest scoring run of the season.
But the Wildcats proceeded to leave the door open, failing to score a field goal in the final 3:48. McGriff made two free throws for a 57-39 lead with a 7:29 left.
West Virginia (17-13, 8-9) then outscored the Wildcats, 19-1, down the stretch and got to with 61-58 with 48 seconds left before McGriff and Johnson made free throws to secure the win.
Up next, West Virginia wraps up the regular season Friday against UCF.