Fort Hays State defeated Bethany College (Kan.) in a single non-conference game by a score of 16-5 on Tuesday (Mar. 20) at Larks Park in Hays, Kan. The win improves FHSU to 6-10 overall on the season and pushes its winning streak to four games.
The Tiger bats put the game away early with six runs in the first and five in the second, leading 11-2 after two innings. FHSU tagged Bethany starter Boston Draper for nine runs, all earned, in 1.1 innings of work.
FHSU starting pitcher Alex Ellison left the game with an arm injury after throwing just three pitches. Kyle Leroy entered in relief and allowed two runs in his two innings of work. Leroy picked up the win to move to 1-0 on the season. He allowed four hits, struck out two, and walked one. Also seeing relief appearances in the game for FHSU were Jesse Hart, Nathan Zimmerman, Tayler Davis, Matt Patzner and Logan Downing. Davis, Patzner, and Downing did not allow a run over the last four innings of work.
Four FHSU players recorded three hits in the game, which included Nash Smith, Brandon Hoefler, Ryan Busboom and JC Ochoa. Smith, Anthony Salinas and Jay Sanders all tied with a team-high three RBI. Busboom recorded two RBI and Ochoa, Hoefler, and Shane Wade all had one.
The Tigers had five doubles in the game, led by Salinas with two. Busboom, Ochoa, and Sanders all had one. The 13 other hits collected by the Tigers were all singles. FHSU had a total of 18 hits in the game.
Fort Hays State now prepares for a four-game conference weekend series in Hays against the No. 1 ranked team in NCAA Division II, Central Missouri. The Mules enter the weekend at 16-1 overall and 11-1 in the MIAA. Fort Hays State is 4-7 in the MIAA, coming off a three-game sweep at Lincoln University this past weekend in Jefferson City, Mo.
Hays Hurricanes Swimmer, Isaac Smith recently qualified for and competed in the Missouri Valley Short Course Division I Championship Swim Meet. Smith, age 10, was the only swimmer from Western Kansas to achieve this honor.
Smith competed in the following events: 100 IM, 200 IM, 50 Butterfly, 50 Breaststroke and 100 Breaststroke. He qualified for the finals heats in all four events.
His final results are as follows:
200 IM: 27th place (3:05.34)
100 IM: 18th place (1:22.73 ) – best time by .20 seconds
50 Fly: 14th place (36.85) – best time by 1.15 seconds
50 Breast: 6th place (39.78) – best time by 2.83 seconds
100 Breast: 4th place (1:27.93) – best time by 9.64 seconds
Smith is the son of Brad and Michele Smith. He is a 4th grader at Wilson Elementary.
ESPN is reporting that Peyton Manning is negotiating to join the Denver Broncos. Citing anonymous sources Monday, ESPN said that the four-time MVP has instructed agent Tom Condon to negotiate to complete a deal with Denver. Manning became a free agent when the Indianapolis Colts released him March 7 after the quarterback missed all of last season because of multiple neck surgeries.
The addition of Manning could well lead to the trade of Tim Tebow, who energized the Broncos in leading them to the playoffs last season despite his uneven play.
The San Francisco 49ers and the Tennessee Titans have been the other teams considered finalists in the race to sign Manning.
OMAHA, Neb. — Elijah Johnson scored 18 points, including the go-ahead basket in the final minute, and No. 2 seed Kansas rallied to beat Robbie Hummel and No. 10 seed Purdue 63-60 on Sunday night.
Thomas Robinson managed 11 points and 13 rebounds for the Jayhawks (29-6), who trailed nearly the entire game but still managed to advance to St. Louis. They’ll play No. 11 seed North Carolina State in the Midwest Regional semifinals.
Purdue was clinging to a 60-59 lead and had the ball and under a minute remaining when Lewis Jackson, the shot clock winding down, lost control at the top of the key. Johnson picked it up and went the other way for the go-ahead layup with 23.3 seconds left.
Hummel missed an open 3-pointer at the other end and Tyshawn Taylor scored a transition dunk for Kansas with 2.5 seconds left. After a timeout, Purdue sharpshooter Ryne Smith unloaded a long potential tying 3-point try that hit the backboard and the rim before falling away.
Hummel finished with 26 points to lead the Boilermakers (22-13).
The Fort Hays State baseball team takes both games of their doubleheader at Lincoln Sunday. The Tigers (5-10, 4-7) win the opener 15-3 then won game two 14-1 for a sweep of the rain-shortened series. Junior left fielder Ryan Busboom had a big day with four hits, two of the them home runs and 10 RBI’s. The fourth game of the series will not be played due to conference rules that state a four-game series must be played in a three-day window. Saturday’s scheduled doubleheader was rained out.
Game 1: Fort Hays State 15, Lincoln 3 After falling down 2-0 through two innings, the Tiger offense finally came to life in the third inning. Anthony Salinas drove in the first run for the Tigers on a fielder’s choice. He would later score, along with Sheldon Howell and Mace Krol on a bases-clearing double by Ryan Busboom to give FHSU a 4-2 lead. It was just the start of an eventual 10-RBI day for Busboom.
An error by Lincoln in the fourth led to the flood gates opening, as the Tigers scored seven unearned runs. Howell triggered the scoring with a sacrifice fly RBI. Brandon Hoefler and Krol each followed with an RBI singles. Busboom cleared the bases once again with a three-run home run to push the FHSU lead to 10-2. Brett Macari capped the rally with an RBI double.
The Tigers tacked on two more in the fifth with another sacrifice fly RBI by Howell and RBI single by Hoefler. Salinas produced a single run in the sixth on an RBI double and JC Ochoa produced the Tigers’ lone run in the seventh on an RBI single.
Andy Lewton picked up the win for FHSU in six innings of work. He scattered six hits and allowed three runs, while striking out three and walking two. He moved to 2-2 on the season with the win. Tyler Treinen pitched a scoreless seventh with two strikeouts to preserve the win.
Game 2: Fort Hays State 14, Lincoln 1
FHSU kept the offense going early in the second game, scoring three times in the first to take a 3-0 lead. After loading the bases with the first three batters of the game, Ryan Busboom had an RBI on a walk, JC Ochoa had an RBI on a groundout, and Brandon Hoefler had a sacrifice fly RBI.
After getting a single to start the third inning, Busboom would later score on a wild pitch to put FHSU up 4-0.
The Tigers put the game away via the big inning in the fifth. Shane Wade and Anthony Salinas each drove in runs on RBI singles, then each later scored on wild pitches. A fielding error off the bat of Mace Krol plated two more runs, which should have been the end of the inning. Busboom made Lincoln pay for the error by knocking a two-run homer, his second home run of the game and third of the series.
Busboom capped his stellar offensive weekend in the seventh with an RBI single for his 10th RBI of the day. Hoefler also produced an RBI single in the final inning.
Connor Beer had a great outing on the mound for FHSU, pitching six strong innings. The only run he allowed in the third was unearned. He allowed just three hits and struck out three with no walks, moving to 1-2 on the season. Andy Hammeke pitched a scoreless final inning of relief with two strikeouts.
The Fort Hays State softball team was handed their first conference loss of the season in the first game against Southwest Baptist on Saturday, but they rebounded to win the second game and gain the series split. The Tigers dropped the first game 2-0 before taking game two 6-1. FHSU is now 17-7 (5-1 MIAA) on the year.
Game 1: Southwest Baptist 2, Fort Hays State 0
Fort Hays State was unable to mount much offense in the first game, recording three base hits and getting shut out for just the second time this season.
Maddie Holub had a strong outing from the circle, striking out 13 Bearcat batters and allowing just four hits. However, Southwest Baptist strung three hits together in the top of the sixth inning and used two Tiger errors to push across both of their runs. Holub took the loss, falling to 9-5 on the season.
The Tigers best chance to score was in the bottom of the sixth. Taylor Nelson reached on an error by SBU and got to third after a sacrifice bunt by Callie Wright. FHSU was unable to push Nelson across, however, after Holub grounded out to the third baseman to end the inning.
Game 2: Fort Hays State 6, Southwest Baptist 1
After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, the Tigers rallied with a four-run third inning before adding two more in the fifth to put away the Bearcats in the second game.
Putman started the third with a single and advanced to third on consecutive sacrifice bunts by Christine Moses and Kellie Olsen. The Tigers then started a two-out rally with a Nelson single that scored Putman. Wright followed with a single of her own then stole second to give FHSU two runners in scoring position. Holub came through with a two-RBI single to left field before coming around to score on a single by Chelsey Rottinghaus.
Rottinghaus added a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Tigers ahead by the final margin of 6-1.
Kaitlyn Shattleroe pitched a complete game for Fort Hays State, allowing just three hits and one run. She also struck out four Bearcats and improved her record to 7-1 on the year.
The Tigers are out of action until next weekend when they travel to Lindenwood on Friday (March 23) and Lincoln on Saturday (March 24).
PITTSBURGH – It had been a while since Syracuse played like the team that spent all season ranked in the top five.
In the second half Saturday, the top-seeded Orange looked like that group and maybe even better, pulling away to a 75-59 victory over eighth-seeded Kansas State in the third round of the East Regional.
“The second half, we made shots. We haven’t done that lately,” Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. “Our offense was not good in the first half. We had to pick it up on the offensive end. Our defense was very good the first half. We got killed on the boards. … Second half we did a much better job on the boards.”
Scoop Jardine had 16 points and eight assists, Dion Waiters had 18 points and James Southerland added 15 for the Orange (33-2), who didn’t wait until the final minutes to seal the win as they did in the second round against 16th-seeded North Carolina-Asheville.
“I think we picked it up on both ends of the floor. Especially on the defensive end, we got what we wanted. We were able to get transition baskets,” said Kris Joseph, who had 11 points. “There was a lot of space on the offensive end. We got open shots, open looks; we knocked `em down. This is the way I like us to play. Everyone was involved. The scoring balance – it was really balanced tonight. That’s how we’re supposed to play.”
They hadn’t looked that way lately, even in their wins.
Syracuse scored fewer than 70 points – it averages 74.5 – in five of the last seven games. The Orange shot better than 46.5 percent from the field – their mark for the season – only once, and the stretch included 3-point performances of 1 for 15, 5 for 20 and 3 for 14. Against UNC-Asheville, they shot 44.6 percent overall and 5 for 23 on 3s, and that included making one of their first 13.
“We won. We won the game. It don’t matter,” Jardine said. “It don’t matter if we played good or bad. We won and advanced. That’s what this tournament’s about. We saw a lot of upsets. A No. 2 lost to a No.15 seed. That’s what this tournament is about. We don’t worry about how we’re playing; we just worry about getting the `W.’ We’re advancing to the Sweet 16. That’s all that matters when we get there, too.”
Syracuse plays Vanderbilt or Wisconsin in Boston on Thursday night in the regional semifinals.
Rodney McGruder had 15 points for the Wildcats (22-11), who struggled from the field against Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense.
Neither team had its leading rebounder. Syracuse’s 7-foot Fab Melo, the Big East Defensive Player of the Year, was declared ineligible by the school for the rest of the tournament earlier in the week. About 20 minutes before the start of this game, Kansas State announced that Jamar Samuels would be held out over an eligibility issue.
“It was tough playing without him, especially one of our seniors. He’s one of the main leaders of the team,” McGruder said. “It was just tough, you know. It’s tough that he would never get to play another game in a Kansas State uniform. He missed his last game.”
Among those in the crowd at Consol Energy Center was Vice President Joe Biden, who went to law school at Syracuse.
This is Syracuse’s 17th appearance overall and third time in four years in the round of 16. The Orange, who had already set a school record for wins in a season, were ranked No. 1 for six weeks.
Southerland was 5 of 6 from the field in the second half, and Jardine and Waiters were both 5 of 9.
“It’s all a rhythm thing. James got in a rhythm; Scoop in the second half got in a rhythm. That’s what we want to see,” Joseph said. “We don’t want to take contested shots. We want easy, open shots. That’s what we got.”
With Waiters going 7 of 7 and Joseph 7 of 8, the Orange finished 23 of 29 from the free throw line, while the Wildcats were 13 of 19.
Rakeem Christmas, who moved into Melo’s spot in the starting lineup, had eight points and 11 rebounds for Syracuse, which shot 66.7 percent in the second half, including making all five of its attempts from behind the 3-point line.
Boeheim, whose 889 wins rank third on the Division I list behind Mike Krzyzewski and Bob Knight, earned his 47th NCAA tournament victory, tied with John Wooden for fifth place.
Jordan Henriquez had 14 points and 17 rebounds for Kansas State, which dominated the rebounding throughout, finishing with a 41-32 advantage. Henriquez had 11 of the Wildcats’ 25 offensive rebounds, but they were able to turn them into only 20 second-chance points.
Henriquez had trouble defensively and had to sit for 4 minutes in the second half because of foul trouble.
“They dragged me away from the rim,” he said. “ When I did contest, they usually got into my body, hit me with a pump fake, drew a couple fouls on me early in the second half.”
OMAHA, Neb. – Kansas coach Bill Self hardly broached the topic of fellow No. 2 seed Missouri’s upset loss to Norfolk State on Friday. He figured there was no need – his players already knew.
He made sure to mention another No. 2 seed, Duke, also went down.
“The Duke game was going on and there was 5 seconds left or 20 seconds left when I finished doing my pregame,” Self said. “I told them then, `Hey, Duke’s getting ready to get beat, too.”’
It served as a warning to the Jayhawks.
They most certainly heeded it.
Thomas Robinson bullied his way for 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the second-seeded Jayhawks rolled to a 65-50 victory over Detroit in the second round of the Midwest Regional.
“I didn’t make a point of it because sometimes you make a point, it could add pressure, saying it’s possible. But I did say, `Hey, the one thing is we have to make sure Detroit doesn’t play well,” Self said of the earlier upsets. “When teams get comfortable anything can happen.”
After the first 15 minutes, Detroit never looked comfortable.
Doug Anderson led the Horizon League-champion Titans with 15 points before fouling out with 11:06 left. Ray McCallum, the son of the Detroit coach, added eight points on 4-for-15 shooting.
“I’m really proud of my guys,” said Detroit coach Ray McCallum. “We played one of the truly great teams in the country tonight, and that really, pretty much tells the story.”
Elijah Johnson added 15 points and Tyshawn Taylor had 10 for the Jayhawks (28-6), despite spending much of the second half in the locker room with cramps. Self said that Taylor received IV fluids during the game and should be 100 percent for Sunday night’s game against Purdue.
Kansas toyed with the Titans (22-14) early on before ramping up the defense, eventually holding them to 32 percent shooting and 3 for 17 from beyond the arc.
“They do a good job of not letting you get in the paint. That’s one of the strengths of my game,” the younger McCallum said. “I felt like I got good looks. It was just one of those games.”
McCallum said he watched Norfolk State’s win over Missouri on the same floor in Omaha earlier in the day. He also knew that Lehigh had upset the Blue Devils.
Kansas restored some order on one of the maddest days of March Madness.
The Jayhawks used a 13-2 run late in the first half to seize control and opened the second half with a 16-4 charge that allowed them to coast the rest of the way.
“I think Missouri grabbed our attention more than anything. We were sitting there watching the game chilling at the hotel. We were definitely shocked and surprised,” Taylor said.
This is the third time that Kansas has opened an NCAA tournament in Nebraska, and both times before it was the start of a title run. The Jayhawks played their opening games in Lincoln in 1988 and Omaha in 2008, when they won their most recent national championship.
They certainly looked like title contenders against Detroit.
After a basket by McCallum and a steal that turned into a soaring reverse dunk by Anderson, the Titans had managed to pull ahead 21-19 with 9 minutes left in the first half.
It wound up being their high point of their night.
Robinson answered with a dunk of his own – he had four dunks en route to 12 first-half points – to start a 13-2 run by Kansas. Robinson added another dunk a couple minutes later, and his basket with 2:22 remaining in the half made it 32-23.
The Jayhawks managed to build their advantage using some creative lineups.
Johnson sat all but eight minutes of the first half, and 7-footer Jeff Withey and fellow starter Travis Releford also sat long stretches, while seldom-used guard Naadir Tharpe was given the most minutes he’d played in a game since mid-February.
Self went back to his starters in the second half, but the Jayhawks didn’t slow down.
Johnson drove to the rim for a basket, and after Anderson answered for Detroit, Robinson got loose for a bunny, Withey went to the foul line and Johnson’s open 3 made it 42-26.
Detroit coach Ray McCallum had no choice but to call timeout.
It didn’t do much good.
The 3-pointers started falling for Kansas in short order: Releford unloaded one for his first points of the game, Johnson hit his third, and Teahan let one go in transition from just in front of the Kansas bench, making it 53-28 with just over 13 minutes remaining
Many in the arena cleared out in the closing minutes as Detroit played out its season.
The Titans were making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1999, when they beat UCLA as a No. 12 seed, but the regular-season Big 12 champions made sure it was a short stay.
“We went through a 20-minute stretch I thought we played really, really well,” Self said. “I’m happy with our guys. It was a good win, especially on a crazy day in the tournament.”
Fort Hays State snapped its seven-game losing streak on Friday afternoon (Mar. 16) with a 4-2 win at Lincoln in Jefferson City, Mo. Strong pitching performances from Shawn Lewick and Brett Macari helped the Tigers improve to 3-10 overall and 2-7 in the MIAA.
Shawn Lewick turned in another strong start on the mound for FHSU, going 7.0 innings for the win. He scattered five hits and allowed just one run, while striking out two and walking two.
Brett Macari entered in the eighth after reliever Casey Pierce hit the first batter he faced. Macari worked around the leadoff runner scoring to preserve the lead. After allowing a double in the eighth, he retired the last five batters of the game for his first save of the season.
Ryan Busboom was key for the Tiger offense, picking up an RBI single in the first inning to give FHSU an early 1-0 lead. He hit a solo home run later in the seventh to push the FHSU lead to 3-0. That would be the decisive run in the game. Chris Santoscoy gave FHSU insurance in the eighth with an RBI single, giving FHSU a three-run lead once again at 4-1.
The four-game series at Lincoln continues on Saturday with a doubleheader at 1pm.
The Fort Hays State softball team pushed their winning streak to five games after knocking off Central Missouri twice on Friday afternoon at Tiger Stadium. The Tigers won by scores of 6-1 and 8-2 to improve to 16-6 (4-0 MIAA) on the year.
Game 1: Fort Hays State 6, Central Missouri 1 The Tigers used a four-run second inning to take command of the first game on their way to the victory. Amanda Vaupel, Chelsey Rottinghaus and Madison Putman all singled to load the bases for Christine Moses, who came through with a two-run single of her own. Putman and Moses would both come around to score on wild pitches by UCM and give the Tigers the 4-0 lead.
Central Missouri scored their only run in the third inning and FHSU responded with one run in both the fourth and fifth innings. Wright had an RBI single in the fourth to score Taylor Nelson and Putman hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to bring in Vaupel.
Maddie Holub had another strong outing in the circle for FHSU, allowing four hits and just one run as she pitched her 12th complete game of the season. Holub struck out 11 UCM batters, giving her 141 for the season, and improved to 9-4 on the year.
Game 2: Fort Hays State 8, Central Missouri 2 FHSU scored a run in both the first and second innings before getting two three-run innings later in the game to put the Jennies away in the second game. Vaupel hit an RBI single in the first inning while Nelson added one in the second to put the Tigers ahead 2-0 after two.
Nelson added an RBI double in the fourth, scoring Yasnaya Susoeff before Wright hit a sacrifice fly and Holub hit an RBI single to make it 5-0 going into the fifth inning. Central Missouri scored there two runs in the top of the fifth, making it 5-2.
Nelson struck again in the bottom of the sixth. Moses and Kellsi Olsen both reached to start the inning and came in to score on Nelson’s fourth home run of the season. Nelson finished the game with three hits and four RBI while Holub recorded a hit in all four of her at-bats.
Abby Morrison started the game and pitched the first five innings for the Tigers, picking up her first win of the season. Morrison allowed six hits, but allowed just two runs in improving to 1-1 on the season. Holub pitched the final two innings of the game, picking up her third save on the year, which ties the single-season school record at FHSU.
Fort Hays State will be at home again Saturday with a doubleheader against Southwest Baptist starting at 1pm.
The Hays High softball team team got a couple of strong pitching performances from a freshman as they sweep Goodland 18-0 and 11-5 to open their season yesterday at the Glassman Ballpark.
Hannah Herold threw a complete game one-hitter in the opener. She pitched six innngs of relief in game two, allowing two earned runs on four hits. She also hit back-to-back homers in game one and drove in four.
Shea Briggs had three hits and drove in two in the second game. Catcher Haley Wells added a couple of hits including a two-run homer in the Indians nine-run third and drove in three.
PORTLAND, Ore. – Shaka Smart and Co. pulled off the first major surprise of the NCAA tournament.
Yep, VCU is back again.
Bradford Burgess hit a key 3-pointer with 1:33 left and the 12th-seeded Rams held off Wichita State 62-59 on Thursday night.
Smart was one of the tournament’s biggest stars last year when he coached VCU to victories over Georgetown, Purdue, Florida State and Kansas, making the Rams just the third No. 11 seed to reach the Final Four. The run ended when they lost to Butler in Houston.
This VCU team moves on to a matchup with fourth-seeded Indiana (26-8), which advanced to Saturday’s game with a 79-66 victory over New Mexico State at the Rose Garden.
“We have different guys doing different things than last year’s team,” Burgess said. “We want to make our own mark on this year’s tournament.”
Still, there are already similarities to last year’s run. Just take a look at the last few frantic minutes of this one.
With 12 seconds left and the Rams clinging to a 62-59 lead, Smart was so animated during a timeout that he swooped down on his team at midcourt and started strategizing.
The intense huddle was eventually brushed back to near the bench by the referees, but the Rams (29-6) came out of the timeout and buckled down defensively, hurrying Wichita State center Garrett Stutz’s errant 3-point attempt before the final buzzer.
“Our guys did a good job executing our defensive plan,” Smart said of those final seconds. “They didn’t get a good look at a 3, and that’s what won it for us.”
The Rams led by as many as 13 in the second half, but Wichita State (26-6) closed to 54-53 on Stutz’s layup with 5:39 left. Troy Daniels hit a 3-pointer for the Rams, and Joe Ragland answered with his own for the Shockers.
Toure Murry made a 3 that gave Wichita State the lead, but Burgess came back with his big shot to give the Rams a 60-59 edge. Darius Theus then tacked on a runner before Stutz’s last-chance attempt was off.
“I was kind of the last option on top, and VCU read the play well,” Stutz said. “By the time I got the ball I knew there wasn’t enough time to go for a two. Couldn’t have been more than 2 or 3 seconds left.”
Said VCU guard Rob Brandenberg: “Everybody was on the same page that last (defensive) play.”
Burgess finished with 16 points, and Theus and Daniels had 10 points apiece for the Rams, who edged Drexel 59-56 in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament final to make it to the NCAAs.
Because of their unexpected run last season, the Rams were expected to give the Shockers trouble. Even President Barack Obama picked them to advance.
Ragland finished with 15 points after getting off to a slow start.
“They obviously pressured the ball and the first half we didn’t handle it as well as we should have,” Ragland said. “The second half we handled it pretty well and had a chance to win the game.”
Wichita State was ranked No. 18 in the final The Associated Press poll. The Shockers won the regular-season title in the Missouri Valley Conference, but lost to Illinois State in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
It was the first NCAA tournament appearance for Wichita State since 2006, when it advanced to the regional semifinals.
There were lots of missed shots on both sides early, but Rob Brandenberg hit a 3-pointer to put VCU in front 17-13 midway through the first half.
Wichita State put together an 11-0 run to make it 24-21 with 5:27 left. Carl Hall capped the surge with a layup.
Treveon Graham broke the VCU scoring drought with a jumper and Burgess added a 3-pointer, sparking a 13-1 run that lifted the Rams to a 34-25 lead at the break.
Burgess scored 13 points during a dominating first half, except for an errant 3-pointer that fell far short of the basket.
Virginia Commonwealth stretched the lead to 41-29 after Brandenberg’s layup. His jumper a short time later gave the Rams a 46-33 lead, but Ben Smith had a layup before David Kyles scored five quick points to trim VCU’s lead to 46-40.
Ragland, who was quiet most of the first half, made a 3-pointer with 7:23 left and Stutz tapped in a shot to get Wichita State within one at 54-53.
“They came at us with kind of a dose of our own medicine and pressed us,” Smart said. “I thought it gave us troubles for part of the second half but we hung in there and made all the big plays in the end.”
PITTSBURGH – Frank Martin watched freshman point guard Angel Rodriguez flub his way through the first half against Southern Miss on Thursday and tried to keep his sanity.
At one point the always animated Martin feared Rodriguez and his fellow freshmen were “going to make me cry on national TV.”
Tears of joy, maybe.
Rodriguez overcame his early jitters to score seven of his 13 points in the final 2:10 as the eighth-seeded Wildcats surged past the ninth-seeded Golden Eagles 70-64 and into the third round of the NCAA tournament.
Martin called it no coincidence that Rodriguez – who airballed a couple of shots early and gave it away three times – was the player with the ball in his hands and the season on the line.
“It’s not like I trust him with 10 minutes to go and not trust him with two minutes to go,” Martin said. “I’ve got tremendous faith in him. That’s why you saw him out there making the plays he made towards the end of the game.”
Southern Miss, making its first NCAA appearance in 21 years, pulled within 62-59 on a steal and dunk by Darnell Dodson with 2:34 to play.
No biggie. Rodriguez, handed the starting job in January after the Wildcats got off to a slow start in Big 12 play, calmly dribbled on the wing after a timeout then slipped past two defenders before hitting a nifty reverse lay-up.
Kansas State’s defense tightened up, and Rodriguez nailed five free throws over the final 57 seconds to send the Wildcats into a third-round game Saturday against the winner of the Syracuse-UNC-Asheville matchup.
“We were fortunate to take the punch and stop the bleeding by making another run,” Rodriguez said
Rodney McGruder led Kansas State (22-10) with 30 points – including 18 in the first half when the Wildcats could muster little else – and center Jordan Henriquez added 15 points, nine rebounds and six blocks for Kansas State, which won its opening NCAA game for the third straight year.
“We’ve elevated our program to one of the better programs in the country,” Martin said. “We have been in this thing consistently. I don’t know how many people can claim they’ve been in it four out of five years.”
Certainly not Southern Miss (25-9), making its third tournament appearance since the program moved to Division I in 1972-73.
The Golden Eagles overcame some early jitters to build a five-point lead midway through the second half but couldn’t win in coach Larry Eustachy’s return to the game’s biggest stage.
“We just didn’t make the plays,” Eustachy said. “We didn’t execute the things we needed to do, particularly in critical situations.”
Neil Watson led the Golden Eagles with 16 points, and LaShay Page had 15. Kentucky transfer Darnell Dodson scored all 14 of his points in the second half, but Southern Miss fell to 0-3 in NCAA play by wilting during a critical stretch midway through the second half.
The Golden Eagles had all the momentum after a Dodson 3-pointer gave them a 45-40 lead.
Kansas State responded with a 18-6 run led by McGruder and Henriquez, who combined for 13 points during the burst, including a 3-pointer by McGruder that hit every inch of the rim before rolling in.
Southern Miss made one last run but couldn’t extend Eustachy’s revival act through the weekend.
The former Iowa State coach led the Cyclones to a pair of Big 12 titles over a decade ago before his stunning downfall. He resigned in 2003 shortly after photos of him partying with students surfaced.
Eustachy went to rehabilitation to treat alcoholism and found a job at Southern Miss in 2004, where he’s slowly built the program into a Conference USA contender by providing a home for cast-offs from other programs and junior college transfers.
The Golden Eagles repaid Eustachy’s patience by leading the program to the tournament for the first time since Brett Favre was still in school, but Southern Miss had trouble all game overcoming the bigger, tougher Wildcats.
No Wildcat was bigger or tougher than Henriquez. The 6-foot-11 center dominated the lane, swatting six shots and altering a handful of others.
He wasn’t too bad on the other end of the floor either. Henriquez – a 52 percent free-throw shooter – made 9-of-10 at the line to give McGruder some help after a first half in which McGruder singlehandedly kept Kansas State in front.
It’s the way Martin expected Henriquez to play all season. There were flashes of brilliance last fall before Henriquez got “a little full of himself” according to his coach. Though never technically in the doghouse, Henriquez slumped during most of the Big 12 season before finding his footing in the last two weeks.
Brimming with confidence, Henriquez provided a presence in the middle that let the guys in front of him play aggressively knowing he would erase mistakes. His long arms made every Southern Miss foray into the lane a difficult task and he wasn’t too bad at the other end of the floor either.
A 52 percent free-throw shooter on the season, Henriquez made 9-of-10 at the line to help send the Wildcats rolling into the third round.
“We have to do what I told the team,” Martin said. “We got to be on a bunch of one-game winning streaks. That’s all we got to do.”
