Courtesy: cyclones.com –
AMES, Iowa – Will Clyburn tallied his sixth double-double of the season (28 points/10 rebounds) to aid Iowa State (15-6 overall, 5-3 Big 12 Conference) to a 79-71 win over Baylor (14-7 overall, 5-3 Big 12) Saturday night in Hilton Coliseum.
The win was ISU’s 19-straight at home, the seventh-best active winning streak in the nation. It also marks the 11-straight Big 12 win at home for the Cyclones, the third-best string in school history.
The Bears are now 0-11 all-time in Hilton Coliseum.
Clyburn was helped by Georges Niang, who tallied 17 points in the victory. Tyrus McGee came off the bench to score 10 points.
The Cyclones won despite making a season-low four 3-pointers. However, ISU committed just 10 turnovers and outboarded BU, 39-35.
The first half was a see-saw battle with 10 lead changes and seven ties. The Cyclones held their largest lead of the first half at 20-15 after a Niang bucket with 9:38 remaining.
BU then went on an 8-1 run to retake the lead at 23-21 after Brady Heslip and Pierre Jackson hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
The Cyclones held a 31-30 lead after the break despite going 0-of-10 from 3-point range in the opening period. ISU built its lead by making 9-of-12 at the charity stripe to BU’s 1-of-4 at the line.
The Bears started the second half on a 10-4 run to retake the lead at 40-35. ISU then responded with five-straight points, including the first Cyclone trifecta of the game by Niang to tie the score at 40-40 with 16:14 left.
Jackson helped the Bears go up by four points (49-45) with a conventional 3-point play at the 12:52 mark of the second half. ISU then answered with a Clyburn trey and a McGee dunk to go up 50-49 with 12:03 remaining.
Clyburn kept the hot hand, giving ISU a 61-57 lead after a deep 3-pointer with 8:33 remaining in the contest. After a Jackson basket cut the ISU lead to 61-59, the Cyclones went on an 8-1 run to go up 69-60 with 4:30 left in the game. Clyburn had two baskets in the flurry.
Four-straight free-throws by Baylor cut the lead to 69-64, but Melvin Ejim scored down low thanks to a great pass from Chris Babb to make it 71-64 ISU with 2:50 remaining.
ISU made its free-throws down the stretch to stop any kind of Baylor comeback. The Cyclones were 25-of-30 at the charity stripe, including a string of 16-straight free-throws made.
The Cyclones are back in action Monday at 6 p.m. when they play host to Oklahoma on ESPNU in Hilton Coliseum.
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