• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Kansas State edges Rider despite season-low 13 points from Beasley

Nov 26, 2007 - 2:38 AM LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (Ticker) -- Rider found a way to contain Michael Beasley. But the Broncs had no answer for Andre Gilbert and Jacob Pullen.

Gilbert scored a career-high 22 points and Pullen added a season-high 19 as 20th-ranked Kansas State avoided a second-half collapse Sunday with an 82-69 victory over Rider in the fourth-place game of the Old Spice Classic.

Beasley, the Wildcats' fabulous freshman, was held to a season-low 13 points. It marked the first time this season that the 6-9 southpaw did not score at least 28 points.

But Kansas State (5-1) persevered thanks to Gilbert, who entered averaging just 2.8 points over his first five games. The 6-7 swingman shot 7-of-11 from the floor and made four shots from the arc to easily surpass his previous career high of 17 points, which he recorded with South Dakota State on December 20, 2005.

Pullen also made a major contribution for the Wildcats, shooting 5-of-11 from the floor and 7-of-11 from the free-throw line.

It was a frustrating afternoon for Beasley, who shot just 5-of-12 from the field but still grabbed 10 rebounds to record his sixth double-double in as many games this season. The highly touted forward entered averaging 30.0 points and 16.6 rebounds.

Kansas State led by as many as 17 midway through the second half before Rider (3-3) narrowed the deficit to 71-67 on Ryan Thompson's layup with 3:31 remaining.

But the Wildcats went on an 11-1 run over the next three minutes, scoring all 11 of their points from the charity stripe. Bill Walker made six free throws over that stretch and finished with 14 points.

Jason Thompson scored 24 points and Ryan Thompson, his younger brother, added 21 and 13 rebounds for the Broncs, who shot just 16-of-30 from the stripe.

Walker, Jason Thompson and Rider coach Tommy Dempsey all were ejected in the final minute.

Walker and Thompson were tossed for fighting with 29 seconds remaining, just 14 ticks after Dempsey was whistled for a double-technical foul for screaming at the officials.

"I feel bad about the way the game ended, to be honest," Dempsey said. "We were fighting so hard. To call that foul and then to T me so quickly, that basically ended the game.

"That is when I lost my temper. I am not pleased with the way the game ended, but if we are going to go down we're going to go down fighting."