USC Lost to Kansas State in the First Round

March 23, 2008 - PRLog -- Kansas State advanced in the NCAA tournament, beating USC 80-67 in the opening round.  The Wildcats scored 23 points and had 11 rebounds for the 27th double-double.  Walker scored 17 in the first half and had a 3 pointer in the last few minutes. Pullen scored 11 points and had 5 assists. Anderson scored 10 points and had 8 rebounds helping the Wildcats to the top of the boards.

Mayo scored a few shots late in the game reaching 20 points.  The Wildcats will move on to play Wisconsin or Cal State Fullerton in the second round.  Walker missed most of the season last year due to a knee injury.  However, this year he was there for the Wildcats after Beasley got 2 early fouls and spent almost half the first period on the bench.  Walker accounted for almost half of Kansas State's points, scoring 6 of 8 from the field.   He had a 3 for 3 at the foul line pushing the team to a 37-27 lead at the break.

Beasley played just 11 minutes in the first half scoring only 5 points. He kept bullying his way in, picking up 3 points. He made 4 shots while being fouled and hit the free throw every time to complete the only trey that existed before the 3 point line.

Mayo couldn't get Sutton off or the rest of the Wildcats' defenders off his back.  The inside game fell apart when Davon Jefferson and Taj Gibson got up one foul after another trying to stop Beasley.  Jefferson had 15 points and Gibson 10.  Kansas State had a 44-27 rebounding lead, including 21 at the offensive end to set up 22 second chance points. The Trojans had 3 second chance points.

USC came in at the second half, pulling ahead for the first time since Mayo stole a pass from Clent Stewart, driving in for the lay-up but was fouled. The free throw gave the Trojans a 48-47 lead with 13:06 left on the clock.  However, the Trojans' lead didn't last as Beasley drew the foul and made both free throws for the Wildcats putting Kansas State back in front.  Pullen scored on a drive and Beasley followed with his 4th three point play of the game which pushed the margin to 54-50.

Walker hit a 3 from the corner scoring his 1st points of the 2nd half, making it 67-58 with less than five minutes left on the clock. Beasley finished off the Trojans with a 3 pointer that made it 72-60.

Kansas State finished third in the Big 12 and fell to an eleventh seed after losing 6 of their last 9 games going into the NCAA tournaments.  They lost to Texas A&M in the conference tournament.

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