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West Virginia beats K-State in Manhattan

Jan 28, 2015 - 5:50 AM Manhattan, KS (SportsNetwork.com) - Tarik Phillip's scored 12 points off a productive West Virginia bench and the 17th-ranked Mountaineers pulled out a 65-59 victory over the surging Kansas State Wildcats on Tuesday.

It was not pretty for most of the night, but the Mountaineers (17-3, 5-2 Big 12) did just enough to overcome 20 turnovers and a 36 percent shooting effort.

Their bench was the difference, as Jevon Carter complemented Phillips with nine points to help outscore Kansas State's reserves by a 35-13 margin.

Juwan Staten led West Virginia's starters with 11 points.

The Wildcats (12-9, 5-3) had won five of six coming in and were looking for a signature victory to add to their resume, but they committed 25 turnovers, made just 37 percent of their shots and missed 15 free throws.

"We said we were going to turn it over, but we did not need 25 of them," K- State head coach Bruce Weber said. "They make you fight for it."

Marcus Foster scored 15 points on 4-of-12 shooting, while Wesley Iwundu added 12 points in a losing cause.

Points were tough to come by in a first half that saw a both teams shoot under 30 percent from the field and combine for 27 turnovers.

Nigel Johnson's layup off a steal pulled Kansas State within 26-24 heading into halftime, and the Wildcats scored the first six points of the second half to jump in front.

Devin Williams muscled his way inside for two to end a nearly seven-minute scoreless stretch for West Virginia, and it went back-and-forth for the next few possessions before the Mountaineers went ahead for good with a 9-1 run.

Phillip's three-point play capped the spurt to put the visitors in front, 49-41, with 9 1/2 minutes to go, and it was essentially a free throw contest over the final two minutes.

Though they went just 10-for-15 from the line, it was enough for the Mountaineers to escape with a win.

"This was a well-deserved win," said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. "I told our guys I was really proud of their effort. We really did play hard."

Game Notes

Nino Williams, Kansas State's second leading scorer, suffered a leg injury early in the first half and did not return ... Kansas State had won six straight home games against ranked opponents ... West Virginia is 10-1 away from Morgantown ... There were nine lead changes and seven ties.