MBB: Cyclones Rally To Defeat Colorado, 55-53

[Jeremy]

MBB: Cyclones Rally To Defeat Colorado, 55-53
Media Relations

AMES, Iowa—Iowa State played from behind virtually the entire game, but came up with the big plays late to rally from a 15-point deficit to down Colorado, 55-53 Wednesday night in Hilton Coliseum. ISU improves to 14-13 overall and 5-8 in Big 12 play with the win.

"The group we had on the floor late in the second half really gave us an opportunity to win the game after being down 28-13," ISU head coach Greg McDermott said. "We had some second opportunities and we executed well. To our guy's credit, at crunch time, we got the ball where it needed to go."

Iowa State once again got off to a sluggish start, making just 1-of-its-first-8 shots while falling behind 12-2. The Buffs made it an 18-4 game with 12:34 left, as CU made 7-of-its-first-11 shots from the field. ISU, which was down by as many as 15 points in the opening period, cut the lead to four points at the half (30-26) when Corey McIntosh hit a trey at the buzzer right before intermission.

McIntosh kept ISU in the game at the beginning of the second period, scoring eight of ISU’s first 12 points of the second half behind two more treys, as ISU cut the Colorado lead to 41-39 with 12:58 remaining. CU increased its lead to six points (49-43) after a Richard Roby putback, but a trey by Dodie Dunson and a basket by Jiri Hubalek got the Cyclones to within one-point (49-48) with 6:12 left.

The Cyclones got their first lead of the game at the 2:35 mark (53-51) when Wesley Johnson rebounded a Hubalek miss and layed it in. Colorado answered on its next possession, but the Cyclones followed with a Hubalek hoop down low to keep a two-point lead. After both teams failed on their next possessions, CU had the ball with shot clock turned off, but Kal Bay was off on a runner in the paint with :12 seconds left. Hubalek grabbed the rebound and was promptly fouled, sending him to the line for a one-and-one situation. He missed the front end, giving CU one last chance. ISU had three fouls to give, fouling twice before Roby was off with the final shot at the horn.

McIntosh finished the game with a career-high 13 points on a career-high three 3-pointers. Mike Taylor scored in double figures for the 17th-straight game with 12 points. The Cyclones shot below 40 percent (36.8 percent) for the seventh time in conference play.

ISU travels to No. 6 Kansas on Saturday, Feb. 24. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.

Game Notes

- ISU has won 15 of the last 16 games vs. Colorado in Hilton Coliseum.
- ISU shot 35.7 percent from the field, its seventh under 40 percent outing of the season in conference play.
- Mike Taylor increased his school-best consecutive game with a 3-pointer streak to 23 games with a 3-pointer in the first half.
- Mike Taylor now ranks sixth on ISU’s single-season 3-pointers made chart with 68.
- Mike Taylor has scored in double-figures in 17-straight games...he had 12 points tonight.
- Corey McIntosh made a career-high three 3-pointers.
- Corey McIntosh scored a career-high 13 points, just his second double-digit effort of his career.
- Iowa State was outrebounded (42-34) for the second-straight game and for just the fifth time in conference play.
- McIntosh led ISU in scoring for the first time this season.