Live from Puerto Rico: K-State 83, Dayton 75

Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente will get most of the credit for this win, and by combining to score 47 points they certainly deserve praise.

But nobody on the Kansas State basketball roster was more instrumental in Sunday's 83-75 victory over No. 18 Dayton than Dominique Sutton.

The junior guard made tough play after tough play at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, and by the time the Wildcats were celebrating a third-place finish in this tournament he had the local fans chanting his name.

"Dominique, Dominique, Dominique," they yelled from the front row. "You gonna be in the NBA. Dominque, Dominique, Dominique."

Said Sutton of the Puerto Rican support: "It was enjoyable."

He didn't hear the NBA part of the chants, because he was focused on the game. His focus was in the right place.

Not only did he score eight points and grab seven rebounds, he tacked on three assists, two steals and the play of the game.

Coming out of halftime, he made an off-balance steal near midcourt, saw a wide open Clemente zooming toward the basket and flung the ball to him before he fell to the floor.

Clemente easily scored a layup and before you knew it K-State had raced to a 50-35 lead.

Sutton stayed in the game for 29 minutes despite facing foul trouble most of the way and is again looking like the Wildcats best defender after getting off to a rough start.

Remember, it wasn't all that long ago that coach Frank Martin played him single-digit minutes in a game.

Sutton said he has turned up the intensity in practices lately and is happy with his progress.

So is Martin.

"Dominique has played his tail off down here," he said. "When he came out of the game, that's when the wheels came off defensively. He is a mainstay for us."

By that, Martin means the late run Dayton made to get back in the game. But once the Flyers cut the score down to 78-75 with less than a minute to go it was Sutton who got K-State's final push going.

He made a key free throw with 37.5 seconds remaining to spark a 5-0 run to finish off the game.

Emptying the notebook:
-- Denis Clemente kept his promise and played two strong halves against Dayton. He started the game by scoring back-to-back baskets (a layup and open three-pointer) and scored 21 points overall. He got to leave his native country on a high note.

-- Jacob Pullen scored 26 points by being physical. When he got the ball, he attacked the rim and earned 14 trips to the free-throw line. And he made 12 of those freebies. His second choice in colleges was Dayton, and Flyers coach Brian Gregory was asked what he thought about Pullen's performance. "I always knew he was good," he said. "That's why I spent two years recruiting him."

-- A second-half skirmish over a loose ball ended with Jamar Samuels picking up a technical foul for kicking Dayton's Kurt Huelsman in the head. The kick appeared intentional on video replays to Dayton fans (they were pretty mad that he didn't get ejected from the game) but Samuels said the kick was completely unintentional. "I apologize to him," Samuels said. "It wasn't no intentional thing. I'm not that kind of person. I don't go around kicking people in the head. That's not my game."

-- It was hard for Sutton and Samuels to watch Villanova play Ole Miss in the championship game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Both groaned and said "we should be playing out there right now," before leaving the stadium.

-- Martin said K-State delivered its best practice of the season leading up to this victory.

-- This was K-State's first victory over a ranked nonconference opponent since 2000.

Player of the game: Dominique Sutton. He didn't have as many points as some of his teammates did, but by far he had the most big plays of anyone on the court.

Play of the game: Sutton's single motion steal/assist just after halftime. Read above.

Do this again: K-State's free-throw shooting has been poor all season, but the Wildcats appear to have found a way around that. By going to the foul line 44 times against Dayton, it hardly mattered that it only shot 61.4 percent from the charity stripe. It still made as many free throws (27) as Dayton attempted.

Try to avoid: In the final minute, with K-State leading by six, Pullen fouled Dayton's best free-throw shooter while launching a three-pointer. Even though the foul was somewhat questionable, that mistake could have been disastrous.

Bottom line: Players and coaches referred to this victory as a win that could help them get into the NCAA tournament. Dayton, indeed is a respected team, and this win was impressive.