Pullen rallies Kansas St. past BYU
March 20, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)—BYU’s Jimmer Fredette got smacked in the face, whacked onthe head and then sent home from the NCAA tournament.
Jacob Pullen and Kansas State are moving on, thanks to a physical brand ofbasketball that was too much for even Fredette’s prison-toughened game.
Pullen scored 20 of his career-high 34 points in the first half to help digNo. 2 seed Kansas State out of an early 10-point hole, and the Wildcats turnedaway Fredette and BYU 84-72 on Saturday night in the second round of the NCAAtournament.
Pullen came alive with a scoring flurry shortly after he and Fredette gottangled up in transition in the first half, and K-State (28-7) wouldn’t trailagain in earning its first round of 16 appearance since 1988.
Pullen matched his career-best with seven 3-pointers and surpassed 30 pointsfor the third time in his career. Down the stretch, he helped seal the victorywith a 3-pointer and six free throws. Equally as important as his scoring washis physical defense against Fredette, who had scored 37 points to get theseventh-seeded Cougars (30-6) past Florida in double overtime in the firstround.
Kansas State did something it couldn’t even do with future No. 2 NBA draftpick Michael Beasley on the roster two years ago, moving on to face the winnerof a Sunday game between No. 3 seed Pittsburgh and sixth-seeded Xavier nextweekend in Salt Lake City.
Fredette finished with 21 points on 4-of-13 shooting, breaking his string ofthree straight games with at least 30 points.
Fredette put his stamp on March Madness with a combination of tricky scoopshots and clutch 3-pointers as he matched BYU’s NCAA tournament scoring recordin the opening game. It only added more intrigue that he had a unique nickname—created by his mother to distinguish him from her brother, who’s also namedJames—and his experience toughening up in pickup games against inmates atupstate New York prisons.
But then he ran into Pullen—literally.
The two got tangled up after Pullen knocked the ball away from Fredette withjust under 7 minutes left in the first half and Pullen remained on the court fora few moments grasping his left hip. He stayed in the game and hit a 3-pointerfrom the right wing that gave K-State its first lead with 4:21 left beforehalftime, completing a rally out of an early 10-0 hole.
Pullen then scored the Wildcats’ last 11 points of the first half, includingthe final eight points in their own 10-0 spurt—five on free throws and then a3-pointer that made it 38-29. The Wildcats wouldn’t trail again.
Fredette took shots to his face and head at least three times in the game,including a midcourt run-in with Denis Clemente that left him grabbing at hisnose to check for blood. He also got smacked in the face in transition after aK-State steal in the first half and had his head dinged under the basket justafter halftime.
BYU couldn’t take advantage after Pullen was whistled for his fourth foulfor being all over Fredette and had to take a seat with 6:20 left. The Cougarsscored the next five points to get within 66-59 but then Pullen came back in toprovide the finishing touches.
His 3-pointer with 3:22 remaining put Kansas State back up by 10 and hedidn’t leave any doubt by making all of his free throws down the stretch.
Pullen flashed a huge grin as he bounced the ball to an official then headedto the bench for the last time in the final minute. He waved to a crowd ofpurple-clad fans behind the Wildcats’ bench, then pointed to the sky after he’dslapped high-fives with his teammates.
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