Courtesy: cyclones.com –
AMES, Iowa – Iowa State (16-6 overall, 6-3 Big 12 Conference) raced out to a 25-point lead early in the second half and never let up in an 83-64 rout of Oklahoma (14-7 overall, 5-4 Big 12) Monday night in Hilton Coliseum.
Iowa State started out on fire, making 7-of-its-first-10 3-pointers. The Cyclones ended the game making 11 trifectas, the 11th time this season where ISU made 10 or more shots from beyond the arc.
The victory increased ISU’s homecourt winning streak to 20 games, the fourth-best streak in school history, but more importantly puts the Cyclones in sole possession of third place in the league standings.
ISU has now won 12-straight Big 12 games at home, tying for the second-best league homecourt winning streak in school history.
Will Clyburn led all players with 19 points. He had help from Chris Babb, who poured in 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from downtown, and Melvin Ejim, who had 12 points and seven boards. Korie Lucious finished with six points and 8 assists.
Iowa State took an early 20-13 lead behind its outstanding shooting from the perimeter. The Cyclones made their first four 3-pointers and remained hot from beyond the arc throughout most of the first half.
OU cut the lead to 25-20, but back-to-back treys from Tyrus McGee and Babb increased the Cyclone lead to 31-20 with 8:08 remaining the opening period.
Three-straight hoops from Clyburn made it 39-25 ISU and moments later Babb made his second trey of the game to give the Cyclones a 42-27 lead with 2:39 left before intermission. ISU led at the break, 44-31, as the Cyclones made 8-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first half.
ISU left little doubt with an outstanding start to the second half. ISU opened the second period with a 14-2 run to take a 58-33 lead with 14:24 left in the game. Ejim had seven points in the run, including a monster dunk via an alley-oop pass from Lucious.
OU then went on a 10-2 run to cut the Cyclone lead to 60-43, but Babb answered with a deep trey to push the lead back to 20 points (63-43) with 9:20 remaining. Babb then hit another trey, his fourth of the game, after a pair of Bubu Palo free-throws increased the Cyclones’ lead back up to 25 points (68-43) with 8:38 left in the game.
The Cyclones return to action Saturday with a trip to K-State that is set to tip at 5 p.m. CT.
Game highlights:
Coach Fred Hoiberg:
