The Cyclones fought their way back from a double-digit halftime deficit, even taking a second half lead, but simply ran out of gas against West Virginia, falling 77-71 on Senior Night at Hilton Coliseum. It was ISU’s sixth home loss of the season.
Rasir Bolton led the Cyclones with 21 points, while Prentiss Nixon chipped in with 19 during his final home game. Solomon Young added 11 points and seven rebounds.
The Mountaineers owned a huge edge in bench scoring, 35-2, and also out-rebounded ISU by a 38-30 margin. Miles McBride and Derek Culver each paced West Virginia with 17 points. The Mountaineers entered the game after averaging less than 59 points in four February losses. They had lost six of seven overall dating back to their home victory over ISU one month ago.
Facing a 13-point deficit coming out of the half and all the momentum on West Virginia’s side, the Cyclones scored nine straight points in the first two and a half minutes to cut the deficit to 44-40. Bob Huggins called timeout from the Mountaineer bench, as ISU got as close as it had been since the 8:07 mark of the first half.
WVU finally got its first points of the second half with 14:17 remaining, as Taz Sherman knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 46-42.
However, Nixon answered on the opposite end with a baseline 3-pointer to cut the deficit to just one. Less than a minute later, Nixon nailed another three to tie the game at 48-48. Coming out of the timeout, ISU forced a West Virginia turnover and Nixon hit again from deep for a three-point lead. The senior guard scored 13 points in less than nine minutes to open the half.
The Cyclones were unable to keep the momentum. Miles McBride gave the visitors the lead back, 57-56, on a 3-pointer with 8:25 to play.
ISU later endured a scoreless drought of nearly three minutes, as West Virginia gradually pulled out to a five-point lead and led 65-60 at the under-four media timeout. Following the timeout, the Mountaineers ran off five more points and once again led by double digits with 2:47 to play.
The Cyclones managed to get back within five points after Bolton’s bucket in the paint with 1:24 remaining. Tre Jackson’s 3-pointer from the right-wing seconds later made it a 73-70 deficit. However, they couldn’t get any closer than three the rest of the way and fell at home to West Virginia.
Both teams went back and forth throughout the early stages of the first half. West Virginia opened with two quick buckets and a 4-0 lead, but the Cyclones settled in following an early timeout by Steve Prohm.
Tre Jackson’s 3-pointer out of a broken play gave ISU a 15-13 lead with 13:24 remaining in the half. This came during a span in which the Mountaineers missed seven of eight shots from the field over a span of three and a half minutes.
However, West Virginia stepped up its intensity on both sides of the floor and used a 9-0 run to take a 26-19 lead with 6:58 left in the half. On the flip side, ISU missed five consecutive shots during a scoreless drought of more than three minutes.
Following a media timeout, the Mountaineers extended it to a 14-2 run over a span of four-plus minutes and led by double digits for the first time. Derek Culver pushed the opposing team’s lead to 42-28 with a layup at the 1:09 mark.
It was only fitting that the half would end on an I-State turnover with five seconds left and West Virginia layup by Culver at the buzzer.
The Cyclones fell to 12-18 overall and are now 5-12 in the Big 12. The conference finale comes on the road Saturday afternoon at Kansas State.
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