Iowa State mounted a rally after trailing by 18 points with just over seven minutes to play in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament, but it would be too little too late in a 79-73 loss to seven-seed Oklahoma.
The 10th-seeded Cyclones’ loss in Kansas City marked the end of a season of misery for Steve Prohm’s club, as it finished 2-22 overall after dropping all 18 regular season Big 12 games.
But even with all of ISU’s shortcomings throughout this season, it still showed the fight that had defined it down the stretch of the season.
It would have been easy for the Cyclones to fold after the sequence of events to open the second half.
Elijah Harkless and De’Vion Harmon hit shots in the opening 2:15 and the Sooners opened up a 40-28 lead. Solomon Young countered with back-to-back buckets to cut it to eight, but OU countered with an 11-0 run sparked by seven points from Harmon to lead 51-32 with 12:16 to play.
The Cyclones went on an 11-0 run of their own late in the game to get to within 58-51 with 4:18 to go. However, Austin Reaves ended the run with an elbow jumper. Oklahoma’s leading-scorer had the answer once again after a Jalen Coleman-Lands 3-pointer made it 60-54 with 3:31 left, hitting a deep three of his own to put make it a nine-point lead.
Rasir Bolton’s 3-point play with 45 seconds remaining got I-State to within five points, 72-67. The veteran point guard came on strong down the stretch and scored all 18 of his team-high points in the second half. He added another layup on the break 19 seconds later. However, his late surge wasn’t enough to rescue the Cyclones whose rally came too late.
In addition to Bolton’s 18 points, I-State got 14 points from grad transfer guard Coleman-Lands. Javan Johnson chipped in with 10, but struggled mightily from the field, making just 4-of-15 shots. Solomon Young added eight points and a season-high 12 rebounds.
Following a frigid opening 20 minutes of play, the Cyclones were markedly better in the second half, connecting on 19-of-39 shots and 4-of-12 from 3-point territory.
After the Sooners scored the game’s opening four points, ISU countered with a pair of free throws from Johnson and a 3-pointer from Tyler Harris.
However, the Cyclones 5-4 lead with 17:42 remaining in the half was the team’s lone advantage of the opening 20 minutes. Brady Manek and Reaves countered with consecutive buckets to make it 8-5.
Bolton returned to action for the first time after missing three games, checking in after the first media timeout. But the point guard struggled in nine first-half minutes, missing all of his four shots from the field and committing three turnovers to his two assists.
In the closing minutes of the first half, the Sooners would open up their biggest lead of the game to that point. After Coleman-Lands’ 3-pointer cut the deficit to four, the seven-seed went on an 8-2 run thanks in large part to threes from Jalen Hill and Manek and led 36-26 with 1:15 remaining in the half.
The Cyclones hit just 11-of-33 shots from the field, including 4-of-16 from 3-point territory, in the first half.
