CINCINNATI (AP) — John Newman III scored 13 of his 18 in the second half, Simas Lukosius hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 10.6 seconds left and Cincinnati blew a 13-point lead before beating Kansas State 74-72 Saturday night to snap a three-game skid.
Lukosius finished with 13 points. Day Day Thomas added 14 points, five assists and four steals and Jizzle James scored 10 for Cincinnati (17-12, 6-10 Big 12).
Jamille Reynolds converted a three-point play to give Cincinnati a 67-54 lead — matching the largest of the game — with 6:51 remaining. Tylor Perry answered with a 3-pointer 11 seconds later and added two free throws before he hit another 3 to cap a 10-0 run a little more than 2 minutes later. Carter was fouled on a 3-point shot and hit all three free throws to pull the Wildcats within two with 3:03 remaining and neither team scored again until Perry hit a straight-away 3 late in the shot clock that made it 72-71 with 1:16 left — Kansas State’s first lead since 8-5.
Neither team scored again until Lukosius came around a screen, caught a pass from James at hit the winner. Perry lost the ball out of bounds under the basket with 2.7 seconds to go and Newman was fouled with 1.7 left but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Will McNair Jr. grabbed the rebound and called a timeout with 1.5 to go but the inbounds pass was deflected and rolled out of bounds as time expired.
Perry led the Wildcats with 26 points, including 17 in the second half. He made 7 of 10 from the field, 6 of 8 from 3-point range and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. Jerrell Colbert added 15 points and Cam Carter scored 13.
Kansas State (17-12, 7-9) has lost eight of its last 11 games.
Colbert scored seven consecutive points for Kansas State capped by a dunk that made it 21-19 but the Bearcats scored 11 of the next 13. The Wildcats scored the final four points of the first half and the first four of the second to trim its deficit to 34-31 with 19 minutes to play but Newman scored nine points in a 13-4 run over the next 3 minutes.
The Bearcats are 8-1 all-time against Kansas State. The programs met seven times from 1958-68 and have played just twice since, the most recent coming when Cincinnati beat the Wildcats 75-61 in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Kansas State visits No. 7 Kansas on Tuesday before wrapping up its regular season next Saturday at No. 8 Iowa State. Cincinnati plays Tuesday at Oklahoma and returns for its finale Saturday against West Virginia.
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