Box Score Kansas State rallied from 14 points down in the first half to defeat 24^th-ranked West Virginia 82-76 in overtime tonight at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas.
 
The Wildcats got 23 points from Markquis Nowell and 18 points from Florida transfer Keyontae Johnson in a physical, foul-filled game.
 
West Virginia (10-3, 0-1) was led by Tre Mitchell's 16 points and game-high 13 rebounds.
 
"They outplayed us," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said afterward. "We seemingly had the game under control, and we had some guys do some really stupid things that enabled them to get back into the game."
 
A combined 53 fouls resulting in five disqualifications played a critical role in the outcome of tonight's contest. The key departure for West Virginia was its leading scorer, Erik Stevenson, who picked up his fifth foul with 1:25 remaining and the Mountaineers trailing 62-61.
 
Kedrian Johnson, after hitting a 3 to put the game into overtime, saw his night end with 1:24 left in the extra session and the Mountaineers trailing 75-70. West Virginia's other point guard, Joe Toussaint, fouled out 31 seconds later.
 
Kansas State's Abayomi Iyiola and Ismael Massoud also saw their nights end early because of fouls.
 
Contributing to West Virginia's loss were 18 missed free throws and 20 turnovers, which resulted in 22 Kansas State points.
 
The Mountaineers also struggled shooting the basketball, connecting on 26 of 63, including just 4 of 18 from 3-point distance. WVU's two starting guards Kedrian Johnson and Stevenson combined to make just 4 of their 20 field goal attempts.
 
Kansas State (12-1, 1-0) was not much better, hitting 29 of 69 from the floor and 3 of 16 from 3, but the Wildcats got off six more shots than the Mountaineers and were a little bit better at the free throw line making 21 of 34.
 
West Virginia had a 50 to 36 advantage on the glass, but that was mostly a result of missed shots. And when the Mountaineers grabbed offensive rebounds, they were frequently fouled and sent to the free throw line where WVU's two bigs, Jimmy Bell Jr. and Mohamed Wague, combined to shoot 6 of 18 from the charity stripe.
 
WVU also endured a couple of long scoring droughts, one lasting more than five minutes in the second half before Emmitt Matthews Jr. ended it with a layup with 6:13 left to reduce K-State's lead to 52-50.
 
Matthews added another basket to tie the game, and West Virginia eventually fought back from a five-point deficit to take a 63-62 lead on Mitchell's layup with 1:03 left.
 
A Keyontae Johnson basket and two Iyiola free throws preceded Keedy Johnson's 3 ahead of the horn to end regulation. It was Johnson's only made field goal of the game.
 
Keyontae Johnson began overtime with a pair of free throws and a missed Mitchell jumper led to Desi Sills' runout basket. K-State built its lead to eight with 31 seconds left and never trailed in the extra session.
 
"We played point-drop at the end and that helped get the game into overtime and then we let down. They got how many point-blank shots because we had guys out of position?" Huggins said. "We just gave the game away."
 
Iyiola contributed 14 and Nae'qwa Tomlin scored 11 for the victorious Wildcats, while Matthews scored 12 and Wague tallied 10 and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers.
 
West Virginia started the game scoring 17 of the game's first 20 points.
 
"We were passing the ball, we were cutting, and we looked like a basketball team," Huggins said. "We're not a very good defensive team, but we were defending better."
 
Huggins thought the game turned early in the second half when Stevenson was called for a personal foul and a technical foul when he tried to block Markquis Nowell's layup and hit him across the forehead. Nowell made one of two at the foul line and then added a layup to reduce WVU's lead to eight. Six minutes later, with Stevenson sitting on the bench with four fouls, the game was tied.
 
"We had control of the game up until that point," Huggins said.
 
West Virginia will fly to Stillwater, Oklahoma, later tonight and will play at Oklahoma State on Monday night. The Cowboys lost 69-67 at Kansas after leading the Jayhawks by 15 at halftime.
 
Monday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPNU.