MORGANTOWN, W.Va. _ Bruce Weber had seen enough.
Shortly after Derek Culver made a contested layup that gave West Virginia a seven-point lead over Kansas State midway through the second half of their basketball game on Saturday at WVU Coliseum, Weber signaled for a timeout in hopes of composing his team.
That would normally be viewed as a wise coaching move, but the timing of his decision worked against K-State in this situation. With 12:04 remaining, a media timeout was coming at the next dead ball. And it arrived 35 seconds later when K-State turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation on its next possession.
K-State still trailed by seven, but now it only had one timeout left and no way to slow West Virginia as it scored seven straight points and pulled away for a 66-57 victory in front of a capacity crowd.
That was far from the only reason the Wildcats lost this game. They shot the ball miserably from 3-point range, making just 3 of 17 attempts, committed too many fouls and failed to take advantage of their opportunities at the free throw line. But K-State entered this game with a slim margin for error in hopes for a road upset.
West Virginia has been invincible here this season, improving to 11-0 at home.
For that reason, few gave the Wildcats much of a chance even though they defeated the Mountaineers 84-68 two weeks ago at Bramlage Coliseum.
K-State fared better than some expected in a difficult road environment, but it didn't play nearly well enough to win or challenge West Virginia until the final moments.
The biggest culprit: A complete lack of offensive punch. Montavious Murphy made a 3-pointer and Cartier Diarra knocked down a pair, while the rest of the team missed 14 long range shots.
David Sloan led K-State in scoring with 13 points. He had some success attacking the rim off the dribble, but he struggled in most other areas.
Xavier Sneed was next with 11 points, but the senior wing will take little solace in that as he went 0 for 7 from 3-point range.
Offense is never K-State's strong suit, but this was a particularly long day for the Wildcats, as they shot 37% from the field, 18% from 3-point range and 69% from the free-throw line.
Meanwhile, Culver was a force inside for the Mountaineers and scored a game-high 19 points. Ten different West Virginia players scored.
With the win, No. 12 West Virginia (17-4, 5-3 Big 12) remained within shouting distance of No. 1 Baylor in the Big 12 championship race. With the loss, K-State (9-12, 2-6) dropped another game under .500 and lost again away from Manhattan.
The Wildcats haven't won a game outside Bramlage Coliseum since Nov. 9 when they beat UNLV on the road 60-56 in overtime. This was their ninth straight loss away from home.
A strange thing about this game for K-State was that it got off to a solid start.
The Wildcats led the Mountaineers 16-15 midway through the first half on a layup from Mike McGuirl. That alone felt like an accomplishment given the way West Virginia has massacred opponents at home recently.
K-State didn't back down, but it couldn't maintain its hot start.
With Murphy, Makol Mawien and Diarra all in foul trouble, the Wildcats didn't make a basket for the next 5 minutes, 16 seconds.
During that time, they fell behind 25-16. But then they played strong defense and made a few shots, pulling to within 30-27 by halftime.
K-State pulled even closer at 30-29 early in the second half but missed a string of free throws when it had an opportunity to take the lead. West Virginia dominated from there.
