Kansas State used a surge late in the first half to grab the lead and pulled away with a strong second half to defeat Colorado State 89-70 on Saturday at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

D.J. Johnson scored 19 points to lead Kansas State (10-1), which outscored the Rams 45-33 after intermission.

When the Wildcats extended the lead to 66-47 at the 12:03 mark, it marked the 10th time in 11 games that Kansas State has held a lead of at least 19 points. This was also the sixth time the Wildcats have scored at least 80 points.

Joining Johnson in double figures for Kansas State were Barry Brown (14), Xavier Sneed (12), Wesley Iwundu (11) and Kamau Stokes and Dean Wade with 10 each. The Wildcats were playing without two reserve big men. Isaiah Maurice was suspended indefinitely for "violations of department policy" and Dante Williams has elected to transfer.

Colorado State (8-3) was led by Prentiss Nixon with a career-high 30 points. Gian Clavell added 16 and Emmanuel Omogbo had 13.

Wade scored six quick points in the second half to give K-State a comfortable margin. The Wildcats then systematically pulled away, leading at one point by as many as 23 points (78-55).

Both teams started with hot shooting, with each hitting 60 percent of their field goals in the first eight minutes. Both squads went on streaks. Colorado State extended its lead to as many as eight points at 29-21 at the 7:29 mark. But the Wildcats answered with an 18-3 run to grab their largest lead at 44-34 with 0:44 left as the Rams went 3:21 without scoring.

Kansas State finished the first half shooting 51.6 percent while the Rams shot 41.2 percent.

Clavell picked up his second foul at the 7:08 mark and sat for the rest of the half with his 11 points, and the Wildcats seized control of the game. The Rams were led by Nixon with 13 points and K-State was led by Brown and Sneed with 10 points each.