AMES, Iowa – No. 9 Missouri had six players score in double figures en route to a 76-69 victory over Iowa State Wednesday night in Hilton Coliseum.
It was a close contest for the first 33 minutes, but a late 7-1 Tiger run helped the visitors improve to 15-1 on the season. Iowa State drops to 12-4 overall and 2-1 in league play.
The first half felt like a boxing match, with both teams taking and giving punches in a tight game. The Cyclones held their largest lead at six points (16-10) with 11:09 remaining until the Tigers scored six-straight to knot the score.
MU took a brief lead at 27-26 with 3:34 remaining on a Michael Dixon 3-pointer. However, the Cyclones answered right back with a Chris Allen trey to move ahead 29-27.
It appeared MU would go into the break with a lead after Kim English putback a Dixon air ball with 0:03 seconds left. But Scott Christopherson took the inbounds pass and buried a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to give Iowa State a 38-36 lead at intermission.
Christopherson had 13 first-half points and drilled three of Iowa State’s eight treys in the opening period.
The Tigers were hot to open the second period, making 5-of-their-first-6 shots to go up 47-43. They continued to maintain a slim lead throughout the next seven minutes of the contest, holding a 57-55 advantage with 7:15 remaining.
MU finally got some separation when Phil Pressey knocked down a trey and Dixon followed with a lay-up to give the Tigers a 66-58 lead with just under five minutes remaining.
Iowa State’s offense stalled, going five minutes without a field goal to allow the Tigers to increase their lead. Royce White ended the drought with a lay-up to close the gap at 66-61 with 2:39 left in the game.
Iowa State trimmed the lead down to three points (72-69) on an Allen 3-pointer with 0:22 seconds left. Marcus Denmon was then fouled, sinking both free-throws. He added two more moments later to ice the game.
Christopherson led all scorers with 19 points, making 4-of-6 shots from downtown. Iowa State made 12 for the game, the eighth time this season where the Cyclones were in double-digits for 3-pointers.
Poor free-throw shooting hurt Iowa State, making just 13-of-25 shots from the charity stripe. Iowa State was also outboarded, 38-27, only the third time the Cyclones have lost the rebounding battle this season.
The Cyclones travel to No. 10 Kansas on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. CST.
