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.

In the end, that was enough for Ole Miss to defeat K-State 86-74 on Friday and hand the Wildcats their first loss of the season in the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Tip-off.

With the loss, K-State dropped to 3-1 and will next play Dayton on Sunday instead of Villanova in the tournament’s championship game.

Here were the differing stat lines:

For Ole Miss: Chris Warren scored 27 and Terrico White added 25. Eniel Polynice and Murphy Holloway finished in double figures as well.

For K-State: Curtis Kelly scored 18, and Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente each chipped in 17. Of those 52 combined points, only 18 came in the first half. Even then, the Wildcats waited until Ole Miss took a 60-46 lead to start attacking the basket.

The Wildcats needed to bring that intensity from the start. Clemente, in particular, said he was late in getting his game together.

After the contest, he blamed himself for the loss and said he couldn’t do that anymore.

Going 4 of 17 from behind the three-point line and 14 of 27 at the charity stripe seem like better areas to point the blame, but Clemente showed leadership in his words.

Allowing Ole Miss to shoot 63 percent from the field in the second half and 56 percent for the game wasn’t a plus either.

Coach Frank Martin said that was where the Wildcats needed the most improvement. They weren’t accustomed to playing teams with comparable talent and size, and suffered the consequences with a loss.

That will change as the season goes on, he said.

All K-State can worry about now is taking on a ranked Dayton team in its final game at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico.

Emptying the notebook:
– Curtis Kelly not only recorded a double-double with 18 points and 10 boards, but started to look like a vocal leader on the court. He is always the last one to sit down after team huddles, and is quite possibly the loudest K-State player on the roster.

– Wally Judge played his best game of the season, lasting for 24 minutes and scoring 11 points.

– Ole Miss made K-State look silly driving at the basket. The Rebels blocked seven shots.

– Rodney McGruder scored just two points after his fabulous outing in the first game of this tournament.

Player of the game: Chris Warren. The Rebels guard hit the Wildcats hard with 27 points in 35 minutes of action.

Play of the game: Terrico White leaned in for a layup, drew a foul, and converted a three-point play just when it looked like K-State was going to get back in the game in the second half. He helped the Rebels go up by 15 after K-State had cut the lead to eight.

Do this again: If Clemente picks up where he left off in the second half, K-State will take its chances against Dayton. The senior guard got out in transition and made some nice plays late.

Try to avoid: K-State started the game 1 of 10 from behind the arc. Hard to win shooting like that.

Bottom line: Ole Miss is the best team K-State has played this season, but the Rebels are not a great team. Good, yes. But great, no. Nevertheless, if the Wildcats learn from this experience and play tough or beat Dayton in their last game in Puerto Rico this trip will be a success.

The freshman guard came off the bench Thursday in Puerto Rico and knocked down four of five three-point shots and led all Kansas State scorers with 20 points.

His big night couldn’t have come at a better time. Play was sloppy throughout at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, and K-State’s best two veteran guards (Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen) didn’t play well. But behind McGruder and some tough second play, the Wildcats pushed past Boston University for an 80-70 victory in its first game of the Puerto Rico Tip-off.

Based on McGruder’s start to the season (he is now 9 of 12 from behind the arc) he is emerging as K-State’s best outside shooter.

His best skill appears to be simply getting open. Sure, he’s got a fantastic shooting stroke and makes knocking down treys seem effortless. But I don’t think I’ve seen him shoot a heavily contested three-pointer this season.

Neither has Pullen.

“He was shooting the ball in from open spots,” Pullen said. “That’s what we practice.”

Coach Frank Martin said McGruder gave K-State a nice lift on Thursday.

With Pullen making only four shots and Clemente nervously clanking nine in front of his home crowd, his shots were needed.

If he keeps it up, and Clemente and Pullen get back to their usual production, the Wildcats should be able to play an improved game against Ole Miss at 7:30 tonight and make a run at the tournament’s championship game.

Emptying the notebook
– The Coliseo de Puerto Rico didn’t attract many fans for the first day of this tournament (announced attendance was 5,073 and fans only stayed for their own team’s games) but K-State was well represented in that number.

A good number of students made the trip and a plane full of boosters flew over with the Wildcats basketball team. Before the game they were very rowdy and a few fans took turns leading the KSU Wildcats cheer near press row.

In all, the purple-clad fans numbered about 250. Forty or so were there solely to see Clemente play.

– McGruder’s only three-point miss came on the final possession of the game, when trying to beat the shot clock from way outside.

– Wally Judge did not score in 10 minutes of action.

– Curtis Kelly and Jordan Henriquez-Roberts combined for 17 rebounds.

– Today’s game against Ole Miss will match Martin up against good friend and Rebels coach Andy Kennedy. When asked about Kennedy, Martin said he was one of the best people “in the world.”

Player of the game: Rodney McGruder. The freshman won the game for the Wildcats with his smooth shooting touch.

Play of the game: Jamar Samuels drove the lane, rose above two Boston defenders and thew down an athletic two-handed dunk that sparked a nice K-State run in the second half. It was the slam of the season, no doubt.

Do this again: Get your opponent in foul trouble. Boston’s starting five had 15 combined fouls at the end of the first half.

Try to avoid: K-State still needs to work on its free-throw shooting. It made 28 of 44 on Thursday.

Bottom Line: K-State could have played better offensively and won by a bigger margin. But it was nice to see a few players come up big to help out the team. And in a tournament setting, a win in that first game is always big.

“Some things have come up off the court that we’re looking into right now,” Martin said. “We’re going to continue to keep him out until we get home and get a better idea of what’s happening. It’s unfortunate. He’s healthy enough to play I just can’t play him.”

Not being able to play surely puts a damper on Colon’s trip home. But Martin said he had no choice but to keep him in street clothes.

When asked to elaborate on what the off-court problem was Martin said, “He’s not in trouble with the law. If he was he wouldn’t be here.”

Colon averaged 4.4 points and 4.7 rebounds as a junior.

Asprilla, a 6-foot-10, 280-pound center, averaged 14 points and 9.3 rebounds with Florida International and was named 2009 Sun Belt Freshman of the Year for his efforts.

He comes to Manhattan from Miami Dade junior college.

It will be the second transfer of his college career.

Coming out of high school he was to attend Miami, but didn’t qualify academically and attended prep school for a year instead.

He then agreed to sign with Florida International, but when Sergio Rouco, the coach he committed to, was replaced after his freshman season by current coach Isiah Thomas he chose to transfer.

Thomas denied Asprilla an official release from his scholarship, which meant Asprilla could not immediately join another Division I school. So he ended up in the JUCO ranks.

Asprilla is originally from Villavicencio, Colombia and played with Art Alvarez’s AAU team as current K-State players Luis Colon and Denis Clemente once did.

Asprilla was a three-star player as a high school senior and has been a highly-touted junior college recruit ever since leaving FIU. Recruiting Web site Rivals.com currently ranks him as the No. 2 JUCO player in the nation.

His best game at FIU came against Middle Tennessee State, when he scored a season-high 28 points and snared 10 rebounds. Against Western Kentucky and Troy, he grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds.

He joins incoming guards Will Spradling, of Kansas City, Mo., and Shane Southwell, of New York, on K-State’s list of committed players.

He has two years of eligibility remaining.

The Kansas State basketball team defeated Loyola-Chicago 92-54 in its season-opener and did so rather easily, which is good.

But coach Frank Martin was so angry with his team’s performance that he said his players should be “embarrassed,” which is bad.

As is the case in most situations like this, it’s best to fall somewhere in the middle. That would make K-State’s performance on Friday at Bramlage Coliseum fairly average.

Curtis Kelly looked good scoring 22 points and grabbing seven rebounds (both team highs) but didn’t look good snaring just one defensive rebound.

The Wildcats looked good on defense, allowing the Ramblers to make 24.6 percent of their shots, but looked bad being outrebounded 51-41 by a much smaller opponent.

Jacob Pullen and coach Frank Martin didn’t say much about the positives after the game, but had plenty to rant about on the negative end.

Martin said K-State’s practice leading up to Friday’s game was the worst he had ever been associated with, and Pullen didn’t disagree. He tried to take full accountability for it.

Nonetheless, that poor effort carried over.

Especially early on, when the teams were tied at 13 midway through the first half. But Kelly and Pullen led a big 24-5 run to break the game open and the second half was never close.

K-State shared the ball well on offense and five players ended in double figures (Pullen had 15, Jamar Samuels 11, Rodney McGruder 11 and Denis Clemente 10).

Next up is a home Sunday matchup with Western Illinois. If K-State players work hard and improve by then, it could be a long afternoon for the visitors.

Emptying the notebook: Dominique Sutton recorded the first K-State dunk of the season. … Samuels was announced in the starting lineup … Luis Colon did not play (hand injury) and watched from the bench in street clothes … Bramlage was not full and about 8,000 fans turned out to watch the game … Rodney McGruder hit 3 three-pointers … Martin said Chris Merriewether and Victor Ojeleye were the only bright spots in Friday’s game. They scored a combined three points, but coach liked the consistency they continued to show.

Player of the game: Curtis Kelly. The junior center scored a game-high 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked two shots. He also energized the crowd with three dunks.

Play of the game: Jacob Pullen hit Kelly with a nifty pass at the end of the first half and the UConn transfer slammed home a dunk to send K-State into the locker room with a big lead and momentum.

Do that again: The Wildcats held the Ramblers to 14.7 percent shooting in the first half. Loyola-Chicago made just 5 of 34 shots and scored 18 points. Some of that was due to the Ramblers playing poorly, but they are impressive stats all the same.

Try to avoid it: K-State was outrebounded 51-41 by Loyola-Chicago, and the Ramblers don’t have much size. The Wildcats need to get tougher on the glass in a hurry.

Bottom line: It’s tough to be disappointed with a 38-point win, but K-State was weak in a number of areas against Loyola-Chicago.

The two high school seniors, who both live in the Kansas City area, seem to be pals.

Spradling, a 6-foot guard from Shawnee Mission South, signed his national letter of intent to play for K-State two days ago and says he is excited to join Frank Martin’s squad next season.

Williams, a 6-foot-5 small forward from Leavenworth, will attend prep school next year and join the Wildcats for the 2011 season.

He said he would have liked to have made his verbal commitment official this week like Spradling did, but can easily wait another year.

While chomping on a burger at halftime, he said he was impressed with Kansas State.

“I like Coach Martin’s style of play,” he said. “K-State plays hard nose, tough defense. … I just really like the environment here, too. Coach makes it seem like this team is a family.”

Spradling got to hold a news conference at his high school this week to announce he would be playing for the Wildcats. He said more than 100 people showed up and it was a fun experience.

Like Williams, he is excited to play for Martin.

“He’s always pushing his players to be their best,” Williams said. “I like the team atmosphere here. It’s something I want to be a part of.”

K-State basketball sports information director Tom Gilbert also just confirmed that Shane Southwell’s written commitment arrived in the Wildcats basketball offices today and is good to go for next year.

Should have a comment about him from Martin after the game.

Even though it was labeled as an exhibition game, the Orange still sold tickets and tried to win. The loss may not have done anything to their record, but it was real and so was all the talk about it on ESPN the next day.

Maybe he brought that up to his players on Sunday. Maybe he didn’t. But Kansas State easily avoided the same outcome, and pounded Pittsburg State 89-53 in its exhibition opener at Bramlage Coliseum.

After the first media timeout, the game was horribly lopsided and Martin got to experiment with different lineups. The results were overall good.

Jacob Pullen hit five three-pointers and led all scorers with 17 points. He also dished out seven assists. Jamar Samuels scored 16 points playing at small forward, and Denis Clemente added 14 points.

Combined with the good efforts of their newcomer teammates, K-State never lacked for offense.

Curtis Kelly, a junior big man who transferred from UConn, recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Next to him in the front court freshmen Wally Judge and Jordan Henriquez looked good, too.

Judge scored eight points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Henriquez, who started in place of the injured Luis Colon (he still has a brace on his hand and was held out for cautionary reasons that aren’t expected to keep him out of the lineup in the regular season) snared six rebounds and blocked six shots.

Samuels was most impressed with Henriquez.

“My biggest surprise today was Jordan Henriquez,” Samuels said. “I think he played very well for us. He makes the game much easier. He can block shots, rebound for us, I think he played very well.”

Freshman Nick Russell also looked good scoring 10 points.

Overall, a good start for the Wildcats.

Player of the game: Jacob Pullen. He came out in the second half and made four quick three-pointers to help K-State extend its lead out to 43 points at one point.

Play of the game: Wally Judge and Dominique Sutton each had an impressive dunk. Not sure which was better.

Do that again: Share the ball. K-State finished with 20 assists and afterward Martin said they left a few more out there. That type of unselfish play on offense will take you places.

Try to avoid it: K-State committed 18 turnovers, and many of them were pure slop. That will change as the season goes along and the nerves disappear, I’m sure. Just sayin’ that number is a little high.

Bottom line: Curtis Kelly, Jordan Henriquez and Wally Judge all had their moments inside. Throw Luis Colon into that mix and the Wildcats could be very good down low.

A decent crowd came out to Bramlage Coliseum early this morning to watch Curtis Kelly lead all Wildcat scorers with 10 points.

The UConn transfer looked very good following missed shots at the basket and showing off his post moves. He came on during the second segment of the scrimmage, where he scored all 10 of his points in a row for the gray team.

It was just one practice, and he only averaged 2 points a game at UConn, but if he brings that same effort to the court this year he will be a welcome addition to the Wildcats.

Other good performers at the scrimmage:

– Dominique Sutton scored eight points and looked very good attacking the basket. He threw down an impressive alley-oop dunk at the beginning of the scrimmage that brought the crowd to its feet.

– Jacob Pullen dropped in seven points and was taking most of the Wildcats’ outside shots.

– Denis Clemente pushed the ball very quickly up the court. You could always tell what team he was playing on, because that team was running much harder than the other.

– Wally Judge had a nice driving score early on, but didn’t do much after that. He came off the court at one point complaining about taking an elbow to the back. Maybe that had something to do with it.

– Rodney McGruder had six points and showed off his athleticism at times.

With so many underclassmen on his roster the last few years, that hasn’t always been the case. Especially two years ago, when the Wildcats had all kinds of talent but almost zero experience.

“Two years ago we had nine first year guys,” Martin said. “Those guys had no idea what was coming.”

But this time around, with seniors Denis Clemente, Luis Colon and Chris Merriewether helping out along with juniors Jacob Pullen, Dominique Sutton and Curtis Kelly, Martin is expecting his new recruits to learn quickly.

“Where in the past we’ve had to teach everyone on the team, the newcomers are going to have a lot of help from the older guys this year,” Martin said. “We’re going to expect them to move forward at a fast rate. It should be easier for them to learn the nuts and bolts of what is expected from them.”

It will be like having a team that coaches itself on some levels. That genuinely excites him.

“Absolutely,” Martin said. “That, and you couple in the fact that now I’m going into my third year as a head coach … There will be a better understanding on my part and my coaches’ part to know what our players’ talents are and how to best utilize them in games.”

He is also looking forward to entering a season with good expectations. Not that the Wildcats were picked to do poorly in years past, but by coming in fourth in the Big 12 preseason poll this season they tied for their best starting point ever.

“It’s a credit to our kids,” he said. “In the toughest league in the country, we’re in the top third. We’re proud of that fact.”

– Martin also pointed out that Colon is recovering well from his preseason injury. Unless an unexpected setback occurs in the next few days Colon will be cleared to shoot and work on his own early this week and rejoin practice shortly after.

– The starting time of Saturday’s scrimmage may no longer be 3 hours before the Colorado game. With kickoff now set for 11:30 a.m., that would mean opening the doors at Bramlage at 8:30. That could still be the starting time, but it may also be pushed back until after the football game. An official announcement will be made early next week.

A look at the women’s team
I stopped by the K-State women’s basketball team’s open practice before today’s football game and left with a few notes to pass along.

– Ashley Sweat and Kelsey Hill were not present. Sweat was sick and Hill took an elbow to her nose earlier in the practice.

– Brittany Chambers, Taelor Karr and Mariah White (all freshmen) spent time at point guard. All three looked pretty good, but Chambers and White seemed to have the best ball-handling abilities.

– Shalin Spani and Alina Voronenko looked good shooting 3-pointers.

– Branshea Brown and Jalana Childs appear to be the offensive focal point of this team. They had the high-low working and seemed to work together well.