Manhattan ? It’s bound to happen someday because Baylor is making obvious improvement by leaps and bounds. But nobody wants to be the first Big 12 Conference basketball team in more than two years to lose at home to the Bears.

Kansas State suffered a frightful scoring drought and seemed a likely candidate Wednesday night, missing its first 15 shots in the second half of an eventual 69-60 victory.

The Bears, getting almost nothing from their foul-plagued leading scorer, grabbed a 51-40 lead when Henry Dugat capped a 12-1 spree with a three-point play.

But the Wildcats stayed calm and hit six of their next seven and finally emerged with the hard-fought victory over the youthful Bears, who have lost 19 straight conference games on the opponent’s home court.

“Credit Kansas State for making big plays down the stretch,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “I think the last 10 minutes showed which team has the seniors and juniors and which team had the freshmen and sophomores.”

David Hoskins and Lance Harris led the second-half comeback, which tied for the biggest so far in Bob Huggins’ first year as head coach.

“We went on a drought there for 10 minutes not scoring the ball, and they went on a run, and we knew we had to dig ourselves out of it,” said Cartier Martin, who had 15 points for the Wildcats (12-6, 2-2 Big 12).

“We just had to put the ball in the hole and get the offense going and try to get to the free-throw line and get some easy points. We knew the game wasn’t over, so were going to fight, especially on the home court. Guys just dug in, and we made plays.”

The Wildcats had shot 55 percent in a first half, which ended in a 39-all deadlock.

Then the first few minutes of the second half Kansas State missed just about every conceivable shot – short ones, long ones, uncontested 6-footers and attempted layups when a defender swooped in.

Kansas State forward Luis Colon, right, pressures Baylor guard Aaron Bruce as he passes the ball during the first half. Baylor squandered a big lead in an eventual 69-60 loss Wednesday in Manhattan.

“We missed a lot of shots,” Huggins said. “They blocked some. They made some good defensive plays. But our movement wasn’t very good. We wanted to come out and run motion, but our movement wasn’t very good.”

The Wildcats finally went ahead 59-58 on Martin’s three-pointer with 5:07 left.

After Aaron Bruce drew nothing but air on a three-point attempt, Hoskins hit a free throw and rebounded Bruce’s miss and Harris went in for a layup and a 62-58 Kansas State advantage.

The Bears (11-6, 1-3) got only two points and five rebounds from Rogers, their 6-9 sophomore who had been averaging 16.7 points and 9.7 rebounds in Big 12 play. He fouled out with 3:15 left as the Bears lost for the 31st time in their last 33 true road games, a streak that dates back to Dec. 30, 2004. Baylor has lost 19 straight Big 12 road games.

“When you’ve got one inside scorer, and you don’t have him, it makes a big difference,” Drew said. “Sometimes you’ve got to knock before you enter. We’re getting close, so the good thing is, hopefully we’ll enter sometime.”

Harris had 18 points for Kansas State, Hoskins had 13, and Clent Stewart had 12, including a contested layup that put Kansas State on top 65-60.

Dugat had 15 and Bruce 13 for Baylor.

After Stewart muscled in for his bucket, Hoskins added four free throws on two separate trips to the line, giving the Wildcats their second straight win.

“Offensively, we started to make shots and defensively we started to make stops,” said Stewart. “It got to the point that not only did we miss shots, but they came down and started making theirs.”

Dugat capped Baylor’s spree with a follow shot underneath and a breakaway basket after Bruce made a long pass across court on his knees.

Fouled by Harris, Dugat made the free throw and the Bears had a double-digit lead with Rogers having spent most of the game on the bench with foul trouble.

“It’s a big loss, but at the same time it’s a learning experience,” said Dugat. “This is one we really needed right here. We’ve just got to learn to close out games.”

Rogers picked up his third foul with 9:03 left in the first half and went to the bench. He went back to the bench with foul No. 4 early in the second half and did not score until hitting a short jumper with 8:38 to play, putting the Bears on top 53-46.