Junior Brendan Hausen led four Wildcats in double figures with a career-high 22 points, including 6 made 3-point field goals, as Kansas State earned a 77-64 wire-to-wire win over Cleveland State on Saturday afternoon before 9,928 fans at Bramlage Coliseum.

Hausen followed up his 17-point effort in the season-opening win over New Orleans on Tuesday night with his first career 20-point game. He became the first Wildcat with 6 made 3-point field goals since Tylor Perry did so against Cincinnati on March 3, 2024. He is now shooting 60 percent (12-of-20) from the field, including 55.6 percent (10-of-18) from 3-point range, after 2 games.

Hausen was joined in double figures by seniors Coleman Hawkins (12 points), David N’Guessan (12 points) and Max Jones (11 points). Hawkins tied a career-high with 4 blocked shots to go with 5 assists, 3 steals and 2 rebounds in 31 minutes. N’Guessan went 6-of-6 from the field.

K-State (2-0) never trailed in the contest, as the Wildcats connected on 57.8 percent (26-of-45) from the field, including 52.6 percent (10-of-19) from 3-point range, with 16 assists on 26 made field goals. Thanks to Hausen’s 6 triples, the team registered double-digit 3-point field goals (10) for the second consecutive game.

The Wildcats, who led by as many as 23 points in the second half, were prevented from a larger victory by 19 turnovers, which the Vikings (1-2) converted into 21 points. The team had more turnovers in the first half (10) than they had in the entire game (9) against New Orleans.

Unlike the opener against UNO, the Wildcats got off to a fast start against the Vikings thanks in part to 6 early points from Hausen in a 10-2 start. The lead grew to 16 points (36-20) in the first half after a second 3-pointer from Hausen with 1:39 left before halftime.

After CSU got to within 36-26 moments into the second half, K-State blew the game open by scoring 20 of the next 29 points to take its first 20-point lead at 56-35, forcing head coach Daniyal Robinson to call a timeout with 11:35 remaining. Hausen had a pair of 3-pointers in the run, along with triples from Hawkins and sophomore Macaleab Rich.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Hausen and Max Jones gave K-State a 77-57 lead with 2:11 to play before CSU closed the final score to 77-64 with the game’s final 7 points.

Cleveland State had a pair of double-digit scorers in junior Dylan Arnett and freshman Je’Shawn Stevenson, who each had 10 points. Three others (Tevin Smith, Tahj Staveskie, Chase Robinson) scored 8 points.

The Vikings shot 38.3 percent (23-of-60) from the field, including 33.3 percent (6-of-18) from 3-point range, and hit on 75 percent (12-of-16) from the free throw line. In addition to 21 points off turnovers, they scored 18 second-chance points on 18 offensive rebounds.

K-State continues its four-game homestand on Thursday when the Wildcats play host to LSU (1-0) at 8 p.m., CT in the second game of a men’s and women’s doubleheader at Bramlage Coliseum. Tickets are available by calling the K-State Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 221.CATS or online at kstatesports.com/tickets.

“First, I just want to thank our students for showing up. On a Saturday with no weekend football, it’s easy for people to leave town and so I just appreciate the love that they were able to show our guys. Everybody knows how thankful I am and blessed I am to be the coach here and do what I do in the place that I love, with people that I love and [I am] just so thankful to God for that.

I was very proud of our first shot defense in the first half. They had eight points off our turnovers and eight points off of our offensive rebounds. That would have been a pretty good defensive first half. Last game, I said [I] thought we played about 15 minutes the way we’re capable of and the goal was to stretch it to 20. I thought we played about 20 minutes the way we’re capable of playing, and then we kind of relaxed and showed some immaturity, that as a team, we have to grow too but overall, thankful for the win. It’s hard to win and [I am] just blessed.”

“I [have] seen him score more than that in high school, so it wasn’t a career high for me from what I’ve seen of him, Brendan is Brendan. He’s doing Brendan things. And what I like is the couple of legal screens that he picked up. I like the fact that he was taking pride in his defense and not going to be a pick on guy. I like a couple of the tough rebounds that he went after and he didn’t settle for the shot, right? I want him to shoot, catch and shoot, and he’s open as soon as he steps in the gym, but he knows his teammates are going to find him, and so he’s not feeling pressured just to get up shots.”

“He has a terrific family. Dad’s a high school coach [and] mom’s a coach. They’re just a wonderful family. It’s the kind of person that you want to be around. You want your kids around, you want him to represent you. And when he was at his last school,  we paid attention and just felt like given the opportunity, he could do the things that he’s doing right now. And so, man, I’m so thankful that his mom and dad trusted us. This is great. I hate it to be a black and white thing, but very few times do really good white players choose to go play for black coaches and for him to look past that and just say, I want to be around good people, and make that decision for us, that’s huge. And I’m so fired up (about having him here). We all know he can shoot, but, I mean, the dude can play. He makes the game easier. And I love 30 foot spacing. So if they got to guard him at 30, it makes the game easier for everybody else, and so very thankful to Brendan and his family for trusting us all.”

“I do like the fact we had 26 made buckets on 16 assists, and that’s been consistent at practice. I think [on] some of the turnovers there, we played a better team, a more athletic team, and (head coach) Daniyal (Robinson) does a great job coaching those guys.  And so they were prepared, because there was film out there. And then every game you go, there’s more film of you out there. So, you probably got to hit more singles, right? Whereas, early on, we could hit home runs and just hit more singles, and that’s going to allow us to get the same type of shots.”

“These guys know how we want to guard, and they’re capable of guarding the way we want to guard. Some of it is a team throws a wrinkle at you that maybe you hadn’t worked on and practiced stuff. But some of it is just human nature, that you get a lead and you relax, right? And I think that was a bigger issue, because they scored seven points in the last two minutes. And so really it should have been like a 50-point game as far as how much we allowed. And so that looks a little different, but part of it too will be conditioning and that the guys get in game shape to be able to guard the way we want to guard for longer periods of time. So, there’s a lot that goes into it, but, the staff has done a great job of putting a scouting report together and putting a plan together to put us in position to be able to limit teams opportunities, and we all have to continue to grow so that we can do it for a longer period of time.”

K-State had a strong start to the game, jumping out to a 10-2 lead behind 6 early points from junior Brendan Hausen, who capped the start with a 4-point play. Cleveland State scored 7 of the next 12 points to close the deficit to 15-9 right after the second media timeout.

A jumper by junior Dug McDaniel started an 8-2 run that pushed the Wildcats back ahead by double digits at 23-11. Seniors Coleman Hawkins had a pair of free throws while fellow senior Max Jones had a basket plus 2 free throws during the mini run.

CSU got to within 25-17 after scoring 6 of 8 points, but K-State responded with an 11-3 run capped by another Hausen 3-pointer to push ahead 36-20. Five different players scored in the sequence, The Vikings ended the half with a basket and 2 free throws to close the gap to 36-24.

K-State connected on 52.2 percent (12-of-23) from the field and 71.4 percent (10-of-14) from the free throw line in the first half but were plagued by 10 turnovers. Hausen led all scorers with 10 points, while Max Jones and Hawkins each added 6 points.

After CSU opened with a bucket, K-State scored 8 of the next 9 points to take a 44-27 lead with less than 2 minutes gone in the second half. The teams traded 3-point baskets over the next few minutes, including one each from Hausen, sophomore Macaleab Rich and Hawkins that helped push the lead to 56-35, prompting a timeout by Vikings with 11:35 to play.

A pair of free throws by freshman David Castillo gave K-State its largest lead at 23 points (58-35) before the Vikings ran off 8 in a row to close it to 58-43 with 8:23 remaining. Three-pointers from Hawkins and Hausen as well as back-to-back dunks from senior David N’Guessan helped stem the momentum and push the lead back to 20 points (68-48) with less than 5 minutes remaining.

A sixth and final 3-pointer from Hausen as well as one from Max Jones gave the Wildcats a 77-57 advantage with just over 2 minutes left before the Vikings finished the scoring with the game’s last 7 points for the final 77-64 margin.

K-State shot 63.6 percent (14-of-22) after halftime, including 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from 3-point range, as Hausen led all scorers with 12 points.