MORGANTOWN, West Virginia – No. 17 Iowa State shot strong among a barrage of turnovers and fouls to take down No. 14 West Virginia 74-72 Saturday night at WVU Coliseum. The win improved ISU to 12-2 overall, 2-0 in Big 12 play. WVU falls to 14-2 overall, 2-1 in conference competition.
West Virginia did well to force Cyclone turnovers (18, the most in a game by ISU this season) and get the Cyclones in foul trouble (six Cyclones finished with at least three fouls), WVU could not take advantage in the scoring department, finishing the game shooting 22-of-68 from the field (32.4 percent).
Abdel Nader came off the bench to lead Iowa State with 19 points and seven rebounds. Georges Niang posted 16 points, while Dustin Hogue added 11.
After even proceedings early on, the Cyclone bench helped give ISU some early separation as Nader on the offensive end and Jameel McKay on the defensive end helped assemble a 8-0 run to give ISU some early breathing room at 14-6 eight minutes in.
WVU got hot late in the first half, making six of its final seven field goals to close the first frame. Juwan Staten drained a pair of free throws with a second remaining to tie it up 32-32 heading into the locker room.
WVU took only its second lead of the game on the first possession of the second half with a Gary Browne 3-pointer, but ISU quickly tied it at 35-35 as Niang banked in a trey. Niang then returned the lead to ISU with a reverse lay-in to make it 37-35 Cyclones. WVU tied it up again, but the Cyclones were able to pull away again, putting up a 7-0 run via buckets from Monté Morris, Hogue and Bryce Dejean-Jones to move ahead 44-37.
West Virginia struggled to take advantage of the ISU turnovers it was forcing, shooting below 30 percent for much of the second half. However, WVU got back into the game from the free throw line, using it to put together a 10-2 run, capped off by a 3-pointer from Jaysen Paige to tied it up at 55-55. At 59-58 ISU, Nader stepped up again, draining a pair of free throws, a corner 3-pointer and two more free throws to move ISU ahead 66-60.
With ISU ahead 69-68 and WVU with the ball, Hogue grabbed a rebound on a Mountaineer miss to set up a fast-break lay-in for Naz Long, his first points of the game, with 28 seconds left. A pair of free-throws reduced the ISU lead to 71-70 when the Cyclones broke the WVU press, and the Mountaineers were forced to foul Nader. Once again, the junior stepped up with two made free throws to put the ISU lead back up to three.
Devin Williams made two free throws to make it a one-point ISU lead again, putting Naz Long to the stripe for two. The Canadian made the first and missed the second, not leaving the Mountaineers enough time to get a good last look, as Nathan Adrian’s three-quarters court shot was never going in.
The Iowa State bench was strong, as the Cyclones got big games from McKay and Nader, stepping up when the majority of the starting five found itself in foul trouble.
The No. 17 Cyclones continue its Big 12-road swing Wednesday at No. 21 Baylor. Tip is scheduled for 8 p.m. with the game being televised on ESPNU.
