MU scrambles for a rare win on the road

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- The points came in bunches for Rickey Paulding just when Missouri needed them -- and a road win -- the most.

Paulding scored eight of his 23 points inside the final two minutes on Saturday, as the Tigers pulled away to beat Kansas State 77-70 for only their third victory in nine road games this year.

Not bad for someone who, early in the second half, was sprawled face-down on the floor after being undercut by Kansas State's Gilson DeJesus as Paulding went up near the basket.

"It looked scarier than it was," said Paulding, his left wrist encased in an ice pack after the game. "I don't think it was intentional. I just wanted to stay down there for a while to see how bad it was."

Josh Kroenke took the free throws for Paulding, hitting both. Paulding immediately came back into the game, and soon after that he hit a basket and followed that up with a 3-point play for a 44-39 lead.

"He just had the will not to let us lose," point guard Ricky Clemons said.

Clemons, playing with a broken left hand for the seconds straight game, also hit several clutch shots for the Tigers (18-7, 9-5 Big 12).

Clemons, who finished with 17 points, went 0-for-4 from long range in the first half. But his two 3-pointers helped Missouri overcome a second-half run by the Wildcats, and he went 4-for-4 from the line in the final 26.8 seconds.

"You really saw the maturity of Ricky Clemons," Missouri coach Quin Snyder said. "Earlier in the season, we would have lost him. He hung in there and stayed with the team, and got rewarded for it by making some big baskets."

DeJesus led Kansas State (13-14, 3-11) with four 3-pointers and 17 points before fouling out.

Matt Siebrandt added 16 points for the Wildcats, who went 6 1/2 minutes without a field goal late in the first half and early in the second before Tim Ellis finally hit a jumper with just under 15 minutes left.

Free throw shooting kept the Wildcats in the game, though, and they went up by five points as DeJesus hit two 3-pointers in a 10-0 run midway through the second half.

His second one gave Kansas State a 56-51 lead with just over 7 1/2 minutes left, but Missouri came back to take leads of 60-59 and 65-62 on 3-pointers by Clemons.

"We answered," Clemons said. "They hit shots, and we answered. That's what you have to do on the road -- hit the shots and take their crowd out of the game."

The Wildcats never regained the lead. They were still within 68-66 when Siebrandt scored with 1 1/2 minutes left, but Paulding hit a 3-pointer with 1:15 left and added two free throws with 36.6 seconds left to put the game out of reach at 73-66.

"Everyone played hard," Kansas State center Pervis Pasco said. "No one was out there slacking. You've just got to execute at the end of the game."

Jimmy McKinney added 12 points and Travon Bryant finished with 10 for Missouri, which was coming off a 67-52 upset of No. 3 Oklahoma on Wednesday.

Frank Richards had 13 points and Pasco added 10 for Kansas State, which was hurt by poor free-throw shooting late in the game.

Pasco had the roughest day, going 6-for-11 from the line as the Wildcats hit just 65 percent (17-for-26) of their shots from the line. Missouri was 17-for-20, 85 percent.

DeJesus and Clemons each converted 3-shot fouls in the closing seconds of the first half, which ended in a 37-all tie.