Courtesy: cyclones.com –
AMES, Iowa – No. 11 Iowa State (19-5, 7-5 Big 12) held off Texas Tech’s (13-12, 5-7 Big 12) rally in a 70-64 victory Saturday afternoon in Hilton Coliseum.
The Red Raiders came all the way back from an 18-point second-half deficit to go ahead 62-61 with 3:04 remaining in the game.
But the Cyclones kept their composure. ISU scored on five of its last six possessions, including three-straight buckets to go ahead by five points (67-62) with 1:25 left in the game.
DeAndre Kane and Georges Niang each tallied 17 points in the win.
Both teams were sharp from the beginning, as the game was knotted at 20-20 with 10:10 left in the first half. ISU was 9-of-14 from the floor (64.3 percent) compared to Tech’s 53.8 percent (7-13). The Red Raiders were able to stay close thanks to an early 9-3 advantage on the glass.
A 7-0 run gave the Cyclones a 31-25 lead with 4:03 remaining in the first half. The run was capped off by a transition pull-up trey from Naz Long, his third of the opening period.
The Cyclones ended the half on an 8-0 flurry to go into the break ahead 39-29. Niang had five points in the run, including a long trey with under 0:20 seconds left.
A Dustin Hogue bucket put ISU up by 18 points (51-33), but Tech quickly went on an 8-0 run, as the Cyclones got a little careless for a stretch.
Moments later, it was just a five-point Cyclone lead (53-48), but Ejim scored on a putback and then followed the hoop with a monster dunk via a feed from Monte Morris, who started the break with a steal to make it 57-48 ISU.
As Ejim and Hogue each picked up their fourth fouls and went to the bench, the Cyclones started to struggle. ISU failed to score on six-straight possessions to allow Tech to cut the gap to just one point at 57-56 with under six minutes remaining.
Jaye Crockett gave the Red Raiders their first lead of the second half at 3:04 mark with a putback to make it 62-61.
ISU then made the plays down the stretch.
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