Courtesy: cyclones.com –
PROVO, Utah – Daniel Edozie blocked Tyler Haws’ shot with three seconds left to help Iowa State (4-0) preserve a 90-88 win over BYU (4-1) Wednesday night in Provo, Utah. The final minute was frantic for the Cyclones, playing the last 60 ticks without their three star players: DeAndre Kane (ejection), Melvin Ejim (fouled out) and Dustin Hogue (fouled out).
However, sophomore Georges Niang scored three clutch baskets in the final three minutes to keep the Cougars at bay and help the Cyclones record the impressive road victory. It was just the 11th home loss for BYU in the last eight years.
Ejim and Kane both had 21 points in the victory, while Niang chipped in with 19 points.
A 19-6 run by the Cougars early in the first half gave the home team a 12-point lead at 36-24. The run was ignited by three-straight buckets by Matt Carlino.
The Cougars still had an 11-point advantage (43-32) late in the first stanza until the Cyclones rattled off 10-straight points behind a pair of triples from Ejim to cut the BYU lead to just one point at 43-42.
BYU went into the break with a 47-42 advantage after Carlino hit a basket at the buzzer, his 12th of the opening period. Ejim had 13 points to lead the Cyclones.
The Cyclones went on an impressive run en route to their first lead of the second half. Matt Thomas buried a deep trey to put ISU up 78-77 with 5:48 left in the game, then an Ejim hoop and a Hogue basket underneath capped off the 20-7 ISU run to increase the Cyclone lead to 82-77.
However, a critical play soon occurred when Kane was called for a flagrant-two foul and was ejected. Haws then buried four-straight free-throws to make it 82-81 ISU with 3:18 remaining.
Niang then came to the rescue with a pair of hoops to put ISU back up by five points, as the Cyclones never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.
BYU head coach Dave Rose said after the game: “I’d like to congratulate Fred and his team. I thought they played a great game. I thought it was a hard fought battle and both teams really gave a great effort. We had quite a few chances there at the end to make a few plays and win the game, but it just seemed like they were a little bit better in their execution late in the game.”
