AMES, Iowa – Scott Christopherson hit a 30-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Iowa State to a 71-68 comeback win over Oklahoma State Wednesday night in Hilton Coliseum.
The Cyclones were down by six points with just over three minutes left in the game, but Iowa State ended the contest on an 11-2 run behind eight points from Christopherson and a big 3-pointer from Tyrus McGee.
The win propels the Cyclones to 13-5 overall and 3-2 in Big 12 play.
It was a close game throughout the entire first half. Iowa State led by seven points at 29-22 with 4:47 left before the break after Tyrus McGee hit his second first-half trey. However, the Cowboys closed the half on a 7-2 run to make it 31-29 ISU at the break.
Royce White scored seven points early, but picked up his second foul with 12:54 left in the half to force the Cyclone big man to sit the remainder of the period. Iowa State led at the break for the fifth-straight time in Big 12 play.
The first 10 minutes of the second half was back and forth with four ties and three lead changes. Markel Brown gave OSU a 52-51 lead at the midway point of the second half, but Scott Christopherson and McGee hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put ISU back up 57-52 with 9:48 remaining in the contest.
Moments later, however, OSU went on a 10-1 run behind a pair of 3-pointers from Keiton Page to give the Cowboys a 64-60 lead with 3:58 left in the game. The lead grew to six points after a Le’Bryan Nash bucket, but Christopherson hit a three then made a driving lay-up to cut the OSU lead to 66-65 with 1:34 remaining.
Page then hit a pair of free-throws to put OSU up 68-65 with just over a minute left. After an OSU missed field goal with 0:24 seconds left, McGee hustled down the court and buried a long 3-pointer to tie the game at 68-68 with 0:16 seconds left.
McGee stripped the ball from Brown with 0:04 seconds left, giving the Cyclones a final shot and setting up Christopherson’s heroics.
McGee finished the game with 17 points on a career-high 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range and grabbed a career-high nine boards. Christopherson and White also chipped in with 17 points. White had a team-high six assists.
