KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Iowa State (5-1, 0-0 Big 12) was unable to overcome a double-digit point deficit, falling to Virginia Tech (5-1, 0-0 ACC) on Friday night in the ESPN Events Invitational by a score of 71-62.
After dropping its first contest of the 2023-24 season, ISU will now compete in the third-place game against No. 12 Texas A&M on Sunday.
Va Tech controlled the momentum for the majority of the contest, holding the advantage for 29 minutes as the Hokies went on to advance to the title game.
The Hokies had four in double figures, led by its starting backcourt Hunter Cattoor (18) and Sean Pedulla (17). Lynn Kidd and Tyler Nickel rounded out Va Tech’s top performers. Pedulla had a game-high five 3-pointers while both Cattoor and Nickel had three.
After a back-and-forth opening 13 minutes of action, the Hokies grabbed the lead at 7:24 in the first half and never looked back, holding the advantage for the remainder of the game.
VT pushed its lead to as large as 12, but a R. Jones dunk at the buzzer brought the Hokie lead back to 10 before the buzzer sounded. Momcilovic had a game-high 13 at the half.
Iowa State came out swinging in the second half, cutting the lead to six after a pair of Momcilovic free throws and a R. Jones dunk, but the Hokies had the answer, pushing their lead back to 11 before the under-16.
VT was able to keep the Cyclones at arm’s length until about the 10-minute mark, when ISU cut the lead back to five and eventually down to two at the 8:44 mark after a big-time King slam.
Again the Hokies had a counterpunch, pushing the lead back to eight like that. Iowa State had one final push, trimming the lead to just two at the 4:35 mark off a Curtis Jones 3-pointer.
Va Tech had one final answer, holding the Cyclone rally off and winning its fifth game of the season, using timely shooting from Cattoor and Pedulla to earn a nine-point win.
Top Performers
Momcilovic had arguably his best game as a Cyclone on Friday, as the rookie from Pewaukee dropped a personal best 21 points on 7-10 shooting from the field, knocking down three triples in a team-high 35 minutes of action.
Notes
Tre King is five points short of 200 in his ISU career.
Keshon Gilbert recorded his 100th career steal on Friday, nabbing two steals to place him at the century mark.
Robert Jones eclipsed 750 career points on the night, using five points to push his career total to 752.
Milan Momcilovic dropped a career-high 21 points.
He now has outings of 17, 18 and 21 points on the year.
What’s Next
The Cyclones will wrap up the ESPN Events Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 26, when they match up with former Big 12 foe, No. 12 Texas A&M, in the third-place game. Iowa State and the Aggies are set to tip off at 5:30 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
