Courtesy: cyclones.com –
AMES, Iowa -Will Clyburn tallied 20 points to help Iowa State (20-10 overall, 10-7 Big 12) to an 87-76 victory over No. 13 Oklahoma State (22-7 overall, 12-5 Big 12) Wednesday in Hilton Coliseum on Senior Night.
The Cyclone seniors came up big late, tallying 10 points in a 10-2 ISU run to increase a two-point lead to 10 points with 2:15 remaining in the game.
ISU, now 32-3 in Hilton Coliseum in the last two seasons, has tallied back-to-back 10-win league wins for just the second time in school history.
Clyburn and the seniors had help from Melvin Ejim and Georges Niang. Ejim tallied his 13th double-double with 13 points and 12 boards. Niang chipped in with 18 points.
After falling behind 6-0, the Cyclones bounced back with 10-straight points to move ahead 10-6 behind a pair of treys from Chris Babb and Niang.
The Cyclone lead reached 15 points at 30-15 after McGee hit a jumper from the corner. The Cowboys chipped the lead down to 10 points (39-29) at the break.
ISU was 3-of-11 from 3-point range in the opening period, but the Cowboys missed all of their nine attempts from downtown.
Both teams came out on fire in the second half. OSU made 7-of-8 to begin the second period, but ISU was 7-of-13 out of the gates to keep its double-digit lead at 11 points (56-45) with 13:03 left to play in the game.
OSU cut the ISU lead to six points on a Marcus Smart trey, but ISU then answered with a 5-0 run to move back up, 66-55 after a Chris Babb dunk. Smart led the way for Oklahoma State with 24 points on 8-22 shooting.
Moments later, Kamari Murphy scored on a tip-in. OSU then got a steal and a 3-pointer from Phil Forte to make it 66-60 ISU with 8:11 remaining in the game.
Two steals by Smart led to two-straight Cowboy baskets, as OSU cut the lead to 67-64 with 6:17 left in the game. Smart then cut the lead to two points (70-68) after a steal and dunk with 4:34 remaining.
Then the seniors took over. Clyburn buried a three, followed by a Lucious drive and a big 3-pointer from Tyrus McGee to cap off an 8-0 run to make it 78-68 ISU with 3:12 left. Clyburn then came up with another big bucket to make it 80-70 with 2:15 left.
ISU held on by making its free-throws late.
The Cyclones made seven 3-pointers in the game to give them 294 on the season, breaking the single-season school record.
Iowa State travels to West Virginia Saturday to face the Mountaineers at 12:45 CT. The game will be broadcast on the Big 12 Network.
