Cyclones close strong
That's how you finish.
Iowa State scored the last nine points of the game in a 70-65 Big 12 victory at Oklahoma State on Wednesday night. The 14th-ranked Cyclones improved to 9-4 in the conference and 19-6 overall with their fifth straight close victory over the Cowboys, who came into the game ranked No. 22 in the country.
It was ISU's second straight victory in Stillwater after not winning there for over two decades prior to last season. The last time Iowa State had won back-to-back games at Oklahoma State was when it won three straight from 1972 to 1974.
Jameel McKay recorded the first double-double of his Cyclone career to lead the way Wednesday night, scoring 17 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. McKay scored 13 of his points at the free throw line and also blocked four shots on the night.
Oklahoma State had a 65-61 lead with just over two minutes to play when ISU went on its game-winning 9-0 run.
Georges Niang scored at the 2:09 mark to cut the deficit to two and after a defensive stop, Dustin Hogue drained a three-pointer from the right corner to give the Cyclones a 66-65 lead with 1:18 to play.
Iowa State stepped up defensively to force OSU's leading scorer Le'Bryan Nash into a traveling call and then Niang scored again on a spinning move in the lane, pushing ISU's edge to 68-65 with 22 seconds to play. After another stop, McKay hit two free throws with seven seconds to go to give the Cyclones their final five-point margin of victory.
The game was tied at 33 at halftime after Oklahoma State scored the final five points of the half. Iowa State led by as many as seven points in the first half. The Cyclones built the lead back up to six points on two occasions (40-34, 42-36) early in the second half before the Cowboys battled back to take the lead at 47-46 with just over 12 minutes to play.
OSU led by four, 51-47, with 10:43 left in the game before Iowa State went on a 7-0 spurt for a 54-51 lead with under nine minutes to play.
Hogue scored 14 points and Morris added 11 to join McKay as double figure scorers for Iowa State. The Cyclones dominated the boards with a +16 rebounding advantage (44-28) and ISU claimed 18 of 42 possible rebounds on its offensive end, leading to 21 second chance points. Iowa State had a 34-14 edge in scoring in the paint as well.
The victory kept Iowa State within one game in the loss column of Big 12 leader Kansas. The Cyclones play at Texas on Saturday.