PJ Haggerty has a knack for scoring, as he displayed once again with his second-straight 30-point game in leading Kansas State to a 98-77 win over Mississippi State at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo. Thursday night.
The Wildcats advanced to the championship game of the event, where they will face old conference mate Nebraska, an 84-72 winner over New Mexico.
The nation’s leading scorer (26.0 ppg), Haggerty exceeded 20 points for the fifth straight game to open the season, finishing his night with 37 points to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds.
Kansas State (5-0) also got 14 points from Nate Johnson and 12 from Abdi Bashir Jr., extending its best season-opening run since 2022-23, the last time the Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament.
Josh Hubbard scored 23 points and Jayden Epps had 18 for Mississippi State (2-2) which committed 14 turnovers while losing its second game to a Big 12 opponent. On Nov. 10, the Bulldogs lost to Iowa State 96-80 while surrendering the ball 26 times.
A 10-2 run early in the second half gave the Wildcats their biggest lead to that point at 54-41. Haggerty finished the scoring outburst with a 3-pointer and a jumper.
The Bulldogs eventually whittled the lead down to 71-64 on a pair of Hubbard free throws with 8:46 remaining. The Wildcats answered with an 11-0 run, capped by a Khamari McGriff dunk, to retake total control at 82-64 just 2 1/2 minutes later.
Kansas State held the lead for the majority of the first half, extending its advantage to 40-32 on a 3-point play from Haggerty with 2:07 left in the half.
After Hubbard scored four straight to cut the lead to four, David Castillo converted a fastbreak layup and Johnson hit a buzzer-beating layup for a 44-36 halftime lead.
The Wildcats were effective from 3-point range in the first half, hitting 6 of 15 (40%), leveraged six turnovers into eight points off turnovers and enjoyed a 10-2 advantage in fastbreak points.
Haggerty led all first-half scorers with 15, while Hubbard paced the Bulldogs with 13.
