Iowa State survives in OT for another road win
Surging Iowa State made it four-in-a-row and five-of-six Monday night with an 82-80 Big 12 overtime win at Texas Tech.
The victory improved the Cyclones to 10-5 in the conference and 18-9 overall. ISU is tied with West Virginia for second place in the Big 12 as both teams won on Monday night. Baylor is ½ game behind and even in the loss column (9-5) with a home game against Oklahoma on Tuesday. I-State hosts the Bears on Saturday.
It’s just the fifth time ever that an Iowa State basketball team has won five conference road games in the same season and the first time since 2000-01. It also happened in 1999-2000, 1943-44 (Big Six) and 1922-23 (MVIAA).
The Cyclones survived Monday’s extra session in Lubbock despite not making a field goal in the final 4 ½ minutes of OT. A Matt Thomas bucket at the 4:32 mark of overtime put Iowa State up 75-73 and Solomon Young hit two free throws with 3:19 to go to make it 77-73.
Tech rattled off five straight points for a 78-77 lead with over two minutes to play. A pair of free throws by Donovan Jackson pushed I-State ahead 79-78 at the 1:55 mark. Two free throws by Thomas made it 81-78 with 31 seconds to go.
The Cyclones only made one of their next four free throw attempts, leaving the door open for the Raiders to have a final possession shooting for the tie or the win. Monte Morris made one of two with 17 seconds to play and Nick Weiler-Babb missed two with seven seconds to go.
But Texas Tech failed to get a shot off before the horn sounded on Iowa State’s win. A late three-pointer went in for TT, but it clearly came after time had expired.
Tech chipped away at an Iowa State lead to tie the game in regulation. The Cyclones were up 68-60 with just over five minutes to go, but TT managed to knot the score at 73 all to force overtime. ISU was called for a backcourt violation with 1.3 seconds left to play, although video replay clearly showed it was a blown call. The Raiders got a contested shot off before the buzzer that was no good.
Earlier in the half, Iowa State used a 9-0 run to turn a 51-50 deficit into a 59-51 lead with 10:14 left in the game. ISU’s two eight-point leads in the second half were its biggest of the game. Both teams had a six-point lead in the first half that ended tied at 39-39. Morris canned a three ball with four seconds to go in the half to even things up going to intermission.
Morris led Iowa State scorers with 23 points and he also had six assists in the win. Thomas scored 20 points for the Cyclones with 16 of those coming in the first half. Naz Mitrou-Long was also in double figures with 16 points.
I-State hit 12 three-pointers on the night and made half of their attempts from behind the arc. The Cyclones shot 46.4 percent overall (26-56) for the game. Texas Tech shot 39.4 percent for the game (26-66), including 7-of-21 from three-point range. The Raiders were +4 in rebounding margin and had a 26-12 advantage in points in the paint.
