MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Behind forward Jonathan Holton's 14 points and 11 rebounds, No. 9 West Virginia beat Kansas State 70-55 Tuesday and remained tied atop the Big 12.
The Mountaineers (17-3, 6-2 Big 12) defeated the Wildcats (12-8, 2-6) for the fifth consecutive meeting.
Sixth man guard Jaysean Paige shot only three-for-12 from the field but scored 12 points for the Mountaineers, who forced 19 turnovers and overcame 18 of their own to keep pace with No. 1 Oklahoma for the league lead.
"We work like crazy to create turnovers, and then we turn around and give the ball right back," said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. "I'm just happy we won. We win and move on. You've got to hold serve at home."
Mountaineers forward Nathan Adrian scored a season-high 10 and played tight defense on Kansas State guard Wesley Iwundu, who finished with six points, half his team-leading average.
West Virginia's bench outscored K-State's 30-15, including nine from guard Tarik Philip and eight from seldom-used guard Teyvon Myers.
"It was a balanced win, a good team win," Paige said. "If everybody gets a piece, it works better for us."
Wildcats guard Kamau Stokes made a 3-pointer in the opening two minutes, but the Wildcats didn't sink another, finishing one-for-18 from deep in its lowest-scoring output of the season.
Guard Justin Edwards (11 points) was the only double-digit scorer for the Wildcats, who shot 35.1 percent overall.
"We just kept talking about keeping it close, finding a way, but West Virginia made too many plays," said Kansas State coach Bruce Weber. "I thought we could compete with them but they kind of controlled the game."
Huggins and Phillip were assessed technicals less than four minutes into the game after Phillip's layup tied the game at 7-7. The Mountaineers responded with a 10-1 run, and Kansas State missed nine consecutive shots, going 7:47 without a basket.
"We had a bad stretch offensively there and they got fired up," Weber said.
The Mountaineers matched their largest first-half lead at 34-25 when guard Jevon Carter made a 3-pointer from the right wing seconds before intermission.
NOTES: Adrian made his first start of the season after freshman Esa Ahmad sustained a strained knee in Saturday's win at Texas Tech. "I thought Nate had the best game of his career," Huggins said. "He passed the ball. He kept the ball moving. His passes were good. Defensively, he was really good." ... West Virginia leading scorer Devin Williams, who played only six minutes in the first half while struggling to pass out of double-teams, finished with six turnovers. The 71-percent foul shooter also went 4-of-9 at the line and scored only six points. ... The game matched the Big 12's worst-shooting 3-point teams, both making less than 30 percent. Kansas State came in 315th nationally and West Virginia, which made five of 18, was ranked 306th.
