Zaire Taylor passes around a K-State player at Mizzou Arena.  The Tigers won 74-68 (Bill Greenblatt UPI)

Zaire Taylor passes around a K-State player at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers won 74-68 (Bill Greenblatt UPI)

The Missouri Tigers kept their home winning streak alive at 30 games battling back from two deficits to beat #10 Kansas State 74-68 in front of a sold out Mizzou Arena. At one point in the second half the Tigers went 10 minutes without a field goal, but Marcus Denmon was one of the heroes who stepped up to break the drought.

It seemed anytime the Tigers needed a big bucket, Denmon delivered. Denmon finished with 14 points, with nine of those coming in the final six minutes when the Tigers were down 55-49. Denmon hit back to back three pointers to pull the Tigers to 56-55. Denmon would come up big again late.

Keith Ramsey hit two free throws to tie the game at 63-63 with 2:00 left. Denmon came up with a steal and jumper to give Mizzou the lead by two. He then stole the ball again and got fouled making one of two. The Tigers hit some big free throws down the stretch, but were just 28 of 43. Down 66-63, Jacob Pullen hit a three to tie the game back up. Pullen scored 21 to lead K-State and he has led them in scoring in 10 of their last 11 games.

Then Zaire Taylor, who also finished with 14, came back and nailed a three pointer. He said they were playing soft on him all game and he waited for his opportunity and he delivered.  That made the score 69-66

Listen to Taylor’s thoughts on the shot.

Zaire Taylor

After a timeout with :33 seconds, Pullen was guarded by Taylor who shot an airball, but K-State got the offensive rebound and bucket to pull to within one. JT Tiller nailed down a free throw and Laurence Bowers hit two free throws, to put the game away, but Bowers added final nail on a behind the back dunk off a steal from Keith Ramsey that brought the sellout crowd of 13,824 to their feet.

Bowers says why he put a little showtime on his dunk.

Laurence Bowers

The Tigers ended the first half on a 13-2 run to turn a 10 point deficit into three point lead. Head coach Mike Anderson talks about having a little more in the tank at the end. Listen to his postgame comments.

Mike Anderson