FINAL STATS

Manhattan, KS - Powerful Kansas St. of the Big 12 Conference nailed seven of its first 10 shots from the field in jumping out to a 24-2 lead en route to an 82-53 victory over Wagner. 

With the loss, the Seahawks fell to 7-4 on the season while the Wildcats improved to 9-3. 

The hot-shooting Wildcats, who hit their first five three-pointers, opened a 33-8 lead before Wagner settled down to trail 44-21 at halftime. Kansas St. then got hot again at the outset of the second half, opening with a 13-5 spurt in building its biggest lead of the game of 31 at 57-26 with 14:43 remaining. Wagner then put together its best stretch of the game, a 14-1 run over the next 3:57, to slice the deficit to 18 at 58-40 with 10:46 to go. 

Freshman guard Tyler Murray (Toronto, Ontario), who scored a career-high 13 points, played a big role in the 14-1 Wagner run by scoring nine points, including a rare four-point play when he was fouled on a made three-pointer and sank the ensuing free throw. Murray, whose previous career high was six, shot 4-of-5 from the field, 2-of-3 from three-point range and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. 

Fifth-year senior guard Joey Mundweiler (Olathe, KS/ Olathe) scored the 1,000-point of his career in front of a host of friends and family members in his home state. Entering the game needing 12 points to hit the 1,000-point plateau, Mundweiler finished with a team-high 17 points and now has 1,005 points in his Seahawk career. Fifth-year senior guard Justin Drummond (Baltimore, MD/ McDonogh) added 10 points, three assists and three steals. 

Kansas St. was led in scoring by guard Jacob Pullen's 24 points while fellow guards Dominique Sutton and Denis Clemente added 21 and 15 points, respectively. The Wildcats out-shot Wagner 54%-35% and held a 44-26 advantage on the boards. 

Wagner returns to Northeast Conference play on Saturday when the Seahawks host St. Francis (NY) on Saturday, January 3 at 7:00 pm.