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NCAAB
Bruce Weber

Kansas State beats UMKC 83-73 in Maui Invite

AP

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) β€” Bruce Weber made sure his team understood Missouri-Kansas City's upset ability, having won its season opener at Missouri.

A steady dose of 3-point shooting and a stingy zone defense gave the Kangaroos a 40-36 advantage in the first half, but a deep, well-versed Kansas State offense came alive in the second half.

Thomas Gipson had 21 points and nine rebounds to help Kansas State beat Missouri-Kansas City 83-73 Monday night in the opening mainland round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

"I thought they were even better in the first half than they were in the Missouri game," Weber said of UMKC's growth. "They go to Missouri and win a gutsy game and they know how to play."

Marcus Foster made four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points as Kansas State (2-0) made 8 of 13 shots from behind the arc. Justin Edwards had 15, and Nigel Johnson added 12 for the Wildcats.

Martez Harrison had 21 points and Broderick Newbill had 11 to pace UMKC (1-1).

Trailing 45-39 early in the second half, Kansas State made three consecutive 3-pointers to take a 48-46 lead, which was its first since 2-1 in the opening minute.

"I told (the team) at halftime that I didn't want to lose," Gipson said. "You think it's bad now, we end up losing and it's going to look bad on us. We don't want to look like that. I put the team on my shoulders and Nigel and I wanted to come out and play hard in the second half and make a statement. Everybody followed through."

The scoring stretch gave Kansas State a 64-53 lead with 9:21 left, which was its largest of the game.

Gipson, who plays at 6-foot-7, 265 pounds, used his strength put the Kangaroo frontcourt in foul trouble as he went 9 of 10 from the free throw line in the second half alone. He scored 13 second-half points.

"Coach Weber made some adjustments there in going small," UMKC coach Kareem Richardson said. "They had four shooters surrounded by Gipson, who we all know is a load inside. They emphasized getting the ball inside early and it got us into more foul trouble."

The Kangaroos, who were coming off of a season-opening upset at Missouri, started right where they left off on Friday night, jumping out to a 21-13 lead and shooting 62.7 percent from the field through the game's opening 9 minutes.

"That first 10 or 12 minutes, we didn't have many answers for them," Weber said. "We kept preaching to them on how active they are in the zone. You can't make lazy, casual passes."

UMKC's biggest first half lead, 26-15, came off of a Newbill 3-pointer with 9:48 left before the break, but Kansas State answered with an 11-4 run.

Newbill scored eight points in the first half and Harrison chipped in seven points with two assists for UMKC.

Kansas State moved to 17-1 all-time against the Kangaroos, including an 11-0 mark at Bramlage Coliseum.

TIP-INS

A win would have given UMKC back-to-back wins against power-5 conference schools for the first time in program history. The 1993-94 season was the last time the Kangaroos won games against multiple FBS-level schools.

UP NEXT

Kansas State will go to Long Beach State on Friday.

UMKC heads home to face Missouri S&T on Wednesday.

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