Kansas State basketball plays with fire and survives in overtime against North Alabama

MANHATTAN — Tylor Perry has one wish for Kansas State’s basketball team as the holidays approach.

“Stop playing with fire before we get burned,” Perry said. “Simple as that.”

Call Perry the firefighter.

It was Perry’s 3-pointer with 7.8 seconds left that capped a five-point K-State comeback at the end of regulation, and the Wildcats never trailed in overtime for a 75-74 victory over plucky North Alabama on Saturday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum.

With the victory, K-State remained undefeated at home and also perfect in overtime while improving to 6-2. The Wildcats are now 3-0 in overtime this year.

“Hats off to (North Alabama coach) Anthony Pujol and his team,” K-State coach Jerome Tang said. “I thought for 39 minutes they were better than we were and played harder. We didn’t deserve to win that game.

Kansas State basketball finishes overtime with a flurry to edge Oral Roberts, 88-78

“But guys figured out a way the last minute in regulation and then in overtime and that’s a credit to our guys’ grit and toughness and togetherness. Just thankful that we figured out a way, and now we can wash it on to the next one.”

The next one, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, is a major challenge against Villanova in the Big 12/Big East Battle series to wrap up a four-game homestand.

Against North Alabama, the Wildcats trailed by eight points in the first half and 13 in the second on a night when offense was hard to come by. Perry, who has been a slow starter all season, scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the second half and overtime to lead five Wildcats in double figures, and also had six assists.

K-State also got 14 points from Cam Carter, 12 each and a combined 15 rebounds from David N’Guessan and Arthur Kaluma, and career highs of 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench from center Jerrell Colbert.

North Alabama (4-4) got 19 points and 11 assists from Jacari Lane, plus 19 points from Detalian Brown and 15 from Tim Smith.

Here are three takeaways from another narrow Wildcat escape.

Relaed: Why Kansas State basketball and Tylor Perry are built for overtime

Overtime brings out the best in Wildcats

In less than 1 1/2 seasons under Tang, the Wildcats have yet to lose in overtime, going 8-0, after winning five straight last year. This season they have beaten Providence in overtime in the Baha Mar Hoops Championship in the Bahamas, and then pulled away for an 88-78 decision against Oral Roberts last Tuesday.

It’s not ideal, but Tang isn’t complaining, especially early in the season.

“You never want to be in that situation. You think, man, we should be better than this team,” Tang said. “We should play better, but being in these moments allows you to see, under fire how guys perform.

“And then hopefully we can take that and then use it not just under fire, but use it throughout the whole game, and then we’re not in these situations. But this is what I know: if we’re in a close game down the stretch, I’m not going to panic, and I know the guys aren’t because they’ve seen themselves be successful in those situations.”

Transition make or break for K-State

With North Alabama shutting down passing lanes and contesting perimeter shots in the half court, K-State was at its best in transition.

The Wildcats had seven fast break points to none for UNA in the first half, and picked up the pace after intermission to finish with a 19-3 advantage.

Seven of the fast break points came during a 14-1 second-half run to tie the game.

“As a team we felt that (North Alabama’s) game plan was to kind of slow the game down and play into their hands,” Carter said. “But we couldn’t slow down for them. We had to keep our pace going, and the second half I think we did a pretty good job of that.”

By attacking the basket, the Wildcats also got to the free-throw line. Their 34 makes were the most since 2015 and the 48 attempts the most since 2014.

Nothing came easy for the Wildcats

North Alabama, playing an afternoon game on the road two days after a home night game, showed no signs of wear and tear in the first half, playing a suffocating defense that denied K-State any easy half-court looks.

And when the Wildcats did have uncontested shots, they didn’t drop resulting in a 35.2 shooting percentage for the game and a 3-for-18 performance from 3-point range.

While their shooting percentage left much to be desired, the Wildcats did not beat themselves. They only turned the ball over 10 times, matching a season low.

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.