Cats Drop Wildcat Classic to Saint Louis

Xavier Sneed’s three-pointer just before the buzzer lipped out and the Kansas State Wildcats suffered another non-conference defeat, falling 66-63 to Saint Louis in the Wildcat Classic at the Sprint Center in Kansas City on Saturday night.

Three straight Wildcat turnovers in the final 2:43 allowed the Billikens to nudge in front and hand K-State their first loss in a Wildcat Classic under Bruce Weber. Yuri Collins’ layup with 2:02 left broke a 63-63 tie and his free throw with 52 seconds left accounted for the final margin of victory.

The loss spoiled a career-high night for Levi Stockard. The junior post from St. Louis scored 17 points to lead all scorers, the first double-figure scoring game of his career. Xavier Sneed added 11 points for the Wildcats in the loss. Saint Louis was paced by Javonte Perkins’s 12 points off the bench.

K-State started slowly, falling behind 9-0 and trailing for most of the first half. The Wildcats took their first lead at 27-26 with 4:02 left in the first half on a DaJuan Gordon three pointer. The Billikens fought back to tie the game at 31 by the time the first half ended. The lead would change hands 10 times in the second half, with K-State leading for the final time at 57-56 after Mike McGuirl made a pair of free throws after a technical foul on the Saint Louis bench with 4:41 left.

The loss drops Kansas State to 6-5 on the season. It’s their worst 11-game start of the Bruce Weber era and worst since the 2001-02 season. They return to action Sunday, December 29th, when they host Tulsa.