Courtesy: cyclones.com
LAS VEGAS – Sean Kilpatrick lead #22 Cincinnati past the Iowa State Cyclones Friday night in Las Vegas with a 32 point effort in the third round of the Global Sports Classic .
Iowa State was lead by Tyrus McGee’s 22 points while Korie Lucious chipped in 12.
The Cyclones shot just 37% from the field while making just 12 of 21 free throws.
Cinicinnati, meanwhile shot a red-hot 92% from the charity stripe, making 23 of 25 free throws, which was likely the difference in the game.
Cincinnati led by as many as 16 points in the second half, but Iowa State (4-1, 0-0 Big 12) fought back, cutting the lead to three points (68-65) with 3:25 left in the game after a Melvin Ejim putback.
Kilpatrick came up big at the free-throw line late in the game, making all 16 of his fouls shots after coming into the game connecting on just 5-of-13 at the line. UC finished the contest 23-of-25 at the charity stripe compared to ISU’s 12-of-21 performance.
“We came back because of our effort on the glass,” Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We did a great job making the extra pass late in the game, but I thought we forced some shots early in the second half and we couldn’t dig ourselves out that hole.”
The game was tied at 35-35 at the break. UC had a six-point lead early, but Tyrus McGee came off the bench to spark the Cyclones with 10 points to put ISU up 18-17 with 11:20 left in the first half.
UC went ahead 31-27 with under three minutes left, but Korie Lucious hit a pair of treys in the closing minutes of the opening stanza to help the Cyclones go into the break with a tie.
Kilpatrick had 18 points in the first half to pace the Bearcats and ISU had 12 first-half turnovers.
UC came out of the second half on fire, making 9-of-13 from the field to go up 58-42 with 12 minutes left in the game. Meanwhile, the Cyclones struggled, going 1-of-8 from the field to begin the second half.
McGee again sparked ISU’s second-half comeback, scoring eight points in a 14-4 ISU run to cut the lead to three points.
ISU had a couple of chances to cut the lead to under three points, but couldn’t find the big bucket late. In the end, turnovers (18) and poor free-throw shooting (57.1 pct.) doomed the Cyclones.
