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Beasley, Kansas State KO Missouri

Feb 17, 2008 - 3:37 AM MANHATTAN, Kansas (Ticker) -- Freshman Michael Beasley continues to add to a glittering resume that likely will earn him the No. 1 overall selection the June's NBA draft.

Beasley poured in a season high-tying 40 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead No. 22 Kansas State to a 100-63 rout of Missouri in the Big 12 Conference on Saturday.

The sensational 6-10 forward recorded his 21st double-double - in the first half alone - to tie the NCAA single-season record by a freshman, which was set by Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony, who now is plying his trade in the NBA.

"He's probably the toughest player that I've ever seen play," Missouri guard Matt Lawrence said. "He has a great heart for the game of basketball. He's a man out there."

Beasley finished 12-of-22 from the field in registering his second 40-point performance and ninth of at least 30 of the season.

"I missed 10 shots. I could have done better, but it was a good game," Beasley said. "I'm not complaining."

Redshirt freshman Bill Walker, who had his highly anticipated first season interrupted by a knee injury a year ago, added 18 points for Kansas State (18-6, 8-2 Big 12), which improved to 14-1 at home, including 6-0 in conference play.

The Wildcats avenged a 77-74 loss at Missouri on February 2 to stay within one-half game of Kansas for first place in the Big 12.

"I took that personally the loss in Columbia," said Beasley of the earlier loss to the Tigers. "There were a lot of things said that I didn't like. I made it my business to help the team win."

The Tigers (14-12, 4-7) lost for the seventh time in 10 games as they deal with the fallout of a restaurant brawl that led to the suspensions of five players and resulted in leading scorer Stefhon Hannah being kicked off the team.

Missouri managed to stay close for just over eight minutes before Walker and Beasley led a blitz that put out the game out of reach.

Leading, 19-18, Kansas State scorched the Tigers with a 21-1 run over a seven-plus minute span to take a 40-19 lead.

Behind the star duo, the Wildcats shot 53 percent (16-of-30) en route to a 52-31 advantage at halftime.

Walker had seven straight points and Beasley added seven more in the decisive run. Beasley had 21 points and 10 rebounds by halftime and combined with Walker (16) to outscore Missouri by six points in the opening 20 minutes.

"Tonight, there is no question about it, he played exceptionally well," Tigers coach Mike Anderson said of Beasley. "Some of that is because we didn't do a very good job, but obviously he is a very good basketball player. He's done that not only to our basketball team but to quite a few other teams in the country."

Hacking away at Beasley did not prove to be a successful tactic, either. He made 14-of-15 attempts at the stripe.

"It seemed like anything we did, we couldn't stop him," Missouri's Justin Safford said. "He was getting to the free-throw line; I don't think he missed one free throw. He's just a dominate player and you could see that tonight."

Lawrence was the only bright spot for the Tigers, hitting four of his 3-pointers to score 12 of his 20 points in the first half.