Buzzer-beater lifts Cyclones over Longhorns

Down 67-57 with 3:48 left in the game, ISU scored the final 12 points, including seven from Morris, to win its fourth-straight Big 12 Championship game. ISU was behind by as many as 15 points after intermission, recording its second improbable second-half comeback in its last three games (ISU was down by 21 points vs. Oklahoma in the second half before rallying for the victory).

Morris’ jumper was ISU’s only lead of the game.

Morris finished with a career-high 24 points and Georges Niang added 22 points. Morris was 9-of-15 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range. He is 9-of-10 from downtown in his last three games, which included a streak of eight consecutive makes.

Texas jumped out to an early lead behind its hot shooting. The Longhorns drilled 5-of-its-first-7 shots from downtown, including a 2-of-2 effort from Javon Felix, to go ahead 23-14 with 9:44 left in the first half. UT was shooting 56.3 percent to ISU’s 31.6 percent in the first 10 minutes of the contest.

UT scored 14 points in a row until the Cyclones finally ended a 10-minute scoring drought with a spinning bucket by Niang. Niang’s basket cut the UT lead to 29-16 with 3:04 left in the opening period.

ISU tried to make a dent at the beginning of the second half, making a pair of treys- one by Naz Long, the other by Niang – but Jonathon Holmes buried two corner 3-pointers to increase the UT lead to 46-31 with 17:51 remaining, its largest lead of the second period.

A 10-3 Cyclone run closed the gap to 49-41 with 12:58 remaining in the game. Morris had five points in the run, including a step-back 3-pointer to cap it off.

The Cyclones cut the lead to six points, but Isaiah Taylor made a pair of floaters to put UT back up 58-49 with 8:45 left.

As ISU slapped on a full-court press, the Cyclones rattled off 10-straight points in a span of 2:30 to tie the game at 67-67 with under a minute left. Dustin Hogue hit a trey and then Morris canned his fourth bomb of the game to knot the game.

UT had two chances to score in the final 0:30 seconds, but missed on both shots. Hogue corralled a Felix 3-point attempt with 0:05.8 seconds left and immediately called timeout, setting up Morris’ heroics.

Monte’ Morris was spectacular tonight, scoring seven of ISU’s final 12 points, including the game-winner at the buzzer. Morris tallied a career-high 24 points behind a 9-of-15 effort from the field and a 4-of-5 showing from downtown. Morris has made 9-of-10 shots from 3-point range in his last three games.