Saturday night in Stillwater was a story Charles Dickens could've
appreciated. It was a tale of two games.
The first 20 minutes was the best of halves for the Cyclones. The
second 20 minutes was the worst of halves.
After holding Oklahoma State to a season-low 17 points in the first half at
venerable Iba-Gallagher Arena, Iowa State succumbed to a fatal combination of
solid defense and cold shooting in the second half of a 62-50 loss.
It was the 14th consecutive loss in the city of Stillwater for the
Cyclones, but there were some signs early in the game which led one to
believe that this might not be the same old song and dance as before. Iowa
State jumped out to a quick lead because of a solid effort on the offensive
glass and an equally solid defensive effort against the two leading scorers for
Oklahoma State, Mario Boggan and JamesOn Curry.
The Cyclones picked up 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, and they had
a dominant 23-14 rebound advantage at halftime. While cleaning the boards, they
held the two players who combined for 39.8 points a game to a paltry four
points.
"Our guys followed the plan about as well as we could expect in the first
half," Iowa State Coach Greg McDermott said. "We needed to control the tempo to
keep the crowd out of the game."
The only thing keeping Oklahoma State in the game was the play of sophomore
Terrel Harris, who led the Cowboy attack in first half with 11 points.
"We had to give up something," McDermott said, "and we knew that Harris could
shoot it. He made us pay for being a little bit late."
Even though the Cyclones were holding the Cowboys at bay, they were also
dealing with problems of their own. Jiri Hubalek picked up a second foul with
9:51 left in the half, and then Mike Taylor picked up his third foul with a
charge through the lane with 8:07 left in the half. Hubalek didn’t return until
there were three seconds left in the half, and Taylor didn’t play the rest of
the half.
"When Hubalek and Taylor got in foul trouble we really had to gear it down,"
McDermott said. "I hate to play that way, but I also hate to
lose."
The pace of the game slowed to a snail’s pace, and the Cyclones were able to
keep the crowd out of the game with their patient attack. They kept the Cowboys
from scoring the last 4:01 of the first half, and a jumper by Wesley Johnson
gave the Cyclones a 23-17 halftime advantage.
Oklahoma State shot 28.6% for the first half, while Iowa State didn’t shoot
much better at 33.3%.
The second half began with Taylor on the bench with his three fouls.
McDermott’s strategy was to try and protect him until the first media
timeout.
"I tried to roll the dice and protect Taylor and started the second half
thinking that if we could get to the first TV timeout with the lead or tied that
we would be okay," McDermott said. "We didn’t want him to pick up his
fourth foul right away. Obviously that strategy did not work."
By the time Taylor came back into the game three minutes into the second half
the halftime lead had evaporated and the momentum swing was well
underway.
"Two of their first three baskets in the second half were a result of
offensive rebounds and we turned it over two of our first three
possessions," McDermott said.
The Cowboys went on to score the first 12 points of the half and eventually
stretched the run to a 23-7 advantage and a 40-30 lead with just over 11 minutes
left when Harris nailed a three-pointer. The second half flurry was fueled by
torrid shooting (11-15 in the first nine minutes of the half compared to
3-12 for the Cyclones), which allowed the crowd of 12,354 to warm from a
simmer to a full boil.
After a Cyclone timeout, Taylor tried to revive the team with a pair of
three-pointers in a 26-second span to cut the lead to 40-36. But the Cyclones
never got any closer. Oklahoma State scored the next eight points over a
span of five minutes and the Cowboys led 48-36 with five minutes left in
the game. The teams gave each other 14 points from there to achieve the final
score.
Iowa State couldn’t improve on their woeful shooting as they shot 31% in the
second half and 32.3% for the game, while Oklahoma State shot 59.3% in the
second half and 45.8% for the game.
Taylor finished the game with a team-high 13 points while Dodie Dunson tacked
on an additional 11 points. They were the only two Cyclones to score in
double figures. Wesley Johnson finished with 10 rebounds and nine points,
including seven caroms off the offensive glass. Rashon Clark added nine boards
to compliment his eight points.
Harris led the Cowboys with 21 points because of a 7-9 effort from the field,
including 3-4 from behind the arc. Boggan and Curry made amends for their lack
of scoring in the first half to end the game with 17 and 14 points,
respectively.
The Cyclones dropped to a record of 11-9 overall and 2-4 in the Big 12, while
the Cowboys improved to 18-3 and 4-2 in the conference.
The Cyclones are back on the road for a Wednesday night meeting with the
Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena before returning home for back to back home
games with Baylor and Missouri.