A road win at Kansas State has Iowa State back in the middle of things in the Big 12 regular season title chase and made the whole thing a lot more interesting for the four frontrunners.
The Cyclones downed the Wildcats, 78-64, using a 10-0 run with the game on the line to deliver a knockout blow in Manhattan, Kan. The win improved No. 23 I-State to 8-4 in the conference and 19-6 overall and avenged an early one-point loss to KSU in Ames. Iowa State hosts Baylor on Tuesday with an eye on gaining a season split with the Bears as well.
Following Saturday's play, 18th-ranked K-State is still atop the Big 12 with a 9-3 league mark. Kansas and Texas Tech are next at 9-4 and ISU is even with them in the loss column as it has played one less game so far.
The guard tandem of Talen Horton-Tucker and Lindell Wigginton spearheaded a three-point shooting blitz for Iowa State on Saturday as the Cyclones made over half their shots from behind the arc and time and time again doused KSU rallies with big shots from deep.
ISU led, 64-60, with just over five minutes to play before scoring 10 straight points to take control.
A three-point play by Marial Shayok coming out of a called timeout put I-State up, 67-60, with 3:56 to go. Shayok hit a driving bucket and then converted the and-1 free throw to put ISU up seven after the last media timeout of the game.
A Cameron Lard dunk off an assist from Horton-Tucker pushed Iowa State's lead to nine at 69-60 with 2:54 to go. Horton-Tucker buried a three at the 2:14 mark to make it 72-60 and Lard's putback with 1:39 to go capped the Cyclones' 10-point spree and make it 74-60.
I-State led by seven at halftime after Kansas State's Barry Brown drained a 40-foot shot at the buzzer to make it 38-31 Cyclones.
ISU used an 11-0 run to take the lead in the first half and never relinquished it. Trailing, 11-8, the Cyclones got a three-pointer from Shayok and a transition layup by Nick Weiler-Babb to take the lead at 13-11. Shayok and Wigginton followed with back-to-back threes and I-State led, 19-11, midway through the opening half. Iowa State's biggest lead of the first half was 38-28 on a three-pointer by Horton-Tucker with 1:21 to go before halftime.
Horton-Tucker scored Iowa State's last 14 points of the first half and its first three of the second half to account for 17 consecutive points.
The Cyclones led by 10 again on two occasions early in the second half. But KSU was back within three points by midway through the frame.
A Shayok layup and dunk by Lard extended Iowa State's back to seven at 57-50. After K-State got within one, Wigginton banged in back-to-back three-pointers and converted one of three free throws on a trip to the line to give ISU breathing room again at 64-58 with 5:14 left in the game.
Kansas State got within four at 64-60 on a Brown jumper at the 5:03 mark before the Cyclones closed things out with their decisive run.
Wigginton made 5-of-6 three-point attempts and matched KSU's Brown with a game-high 23 points. Horton-Tucker was 6-of-9 from behind the arc and finished with 20 points. As a team, the Cyclones hit 14-of-24 (58.3%) three-pointers.
Shayok turned in a double-double for I-State with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Iowa State was +7 on the boards.
The Cyclones shot 52.7 percent from the floor overall (28-of-55) and had 19 assists on its made field goals with Weiler-Babb dishing out six and Tyrese Haliburton five. Iowa State buried K-State in bench scoring, 31-7, thanks to the Wigginton-Lard tandem.
Kansas State shot 42 percent (21-50), including 5-of-19 (26.3%) from three-point range. The Wildcats lost forward Dean Wade to injury in the second half (9:18) with an apparent ankle injury. ISU led, 55-50, at the time.
