Niang pushes through leg injury, No. 5 Iowa State beats North Dakota State

AMES — Georges Niang rolled on the court, clearly in pain. Hilton Coliseum went dead silent.

Just minutes before, fans had been treated with an appearance from new Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell, but the energy he gave the crowd was washed away. Niang lied on the floor, clutching his leg uncertain about what exactly happened.

'I was just scared at first because we banged knee to knee and I just didn't know what to think,' Niang said. 'I couldn't feel what was going on. I'm glad I got up and was moving around.'

Niang went to the locker room with six minutes to go in the first half and was diagnosed with a right thigh contusion, but returned late in the period of No. 5 Iowa State's 84-64 win against North Dakota State on Tuesday.

The senior forward scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half, but his first move to the basket was the most crucial. Niang got the ball at the free-throw line extended and immediately spun around his defender to finish at rim. The bucket gave relief to Niang, but was a sigh of relief for the ISU bench, too.

'You're kind of looking there, and I was just thinking, 'Man, just make sure it's not ACL or something,'' said Iowa State coach Steve Prohm. 'You could kind of tell it wasn't so I knew it was going to be all right I just didn't know the severity of it.'

'I just got a Charley horse,' Niang said with a smile. 'I probably overreacted a little, but I was seriously in pain.'

The Cyclones (6-0) pushed their lead to as many as nine in the first half, but a struggle from long range — 3-for-14 in the first period — allowed the Bison (4-2) to storm back, making it a two-point game early in the second half.

Iowa State pushed the lead to 10 early after halftime, but North Dakota State drew within 52-50 after Malik Clements hit a jumper with 12:06 to play. But a 32-14 ISU run to end the game gave the Cyclones their 30th consecutive home win against a non-conference opponent.

Abdel Nader had 21 points while Monte Morris scored 18 points to go along with six assists, five rebounds and two turnovers while Jameel McKay crashed the glass to earn a career-best.

McKay's 19 boards was a career-high — besting the 17 rebounds he had last week against Chattanooga — that accompanied 15 points.

'It was just tough, but my teammates helped me out boxing their men out and just leaving me one on one to get the rebound,' McKay said. 'I'm happy because of that. It was just an overall great team win.'

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