No. 15 Iowa State executes down the stretch to beat No. 25 Texas, 85-75

AMES — Iowa State found itself in a familiar position, but had the chance to right some wrongs.

After failing to close out wins against Texas A&M, West Virginia and Texas Tech, the Cyclones held a three-point lead against Texas at home with less than three minutes to go and looking to their playmakers to rise to the occasion.

In Iowa State coach Steve Prohm's observation, three components helped the Cyclones put demons of late-game meltdowns in the rearview mirror. In truth, that could be broken down into one category executed by Iowa State's two best players.

'Got to the free throw line, made free throws and those two guys right there (Georges Niang and Monte Morris) were 18-for-29,' Prohm said. 'When they have numbers like that, you probably finish the game pretty well. They made big shots.'

No. 15 Iowa State beat No. 25 Texas 85-75 on the strength of its late-game execution and 24 points apiece from Niang and Morris. Morris tied a career-high while Niang earned his 10th game this season with at least 20 points.

The Cyclones (18-7, 7-5) led the Longhorns (16-9, 7-5) 77-74 with 2:29 to go, but unlike the three late-game losses, they managed the end to perfection. Iowa State went on an 8-0 run in 1:36 and made all three shot attempts while holding Texas to 0-for-5 shooting with a turnover in that span.

'Coach was getting on us like, 'Do you have the will to win?'' Niang said. 'I just feel like the last couple games, we didn't really have the will to win. We were giving up late leads and stuff like that, so we can use it as motivation.

'I was probably a little too emotional crying out there to the refs, but we're just so passionate and we really wanted this win. I think when you want it that bad, you're going to pull it out and we just need to play every game like that.'

Matt Thomas and Deonte Burton gave Iowa State 13 and 10 points, respectively, while the Cyclones went 17-for-25 from the free throw line. The team also shot 66.7 percent in the second half while outscoring Texas 48-34 in the paint.

The Longhorns got 18 points from Javan Felix and Tevin Mack, but center Prince Ibeh (10 points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes) battled foul trouble all night.

Texas fell behind nine points midway through the first half, but used a 12-0 run to take a 24-21 lead before Niang started to heat up. The senior scored 13 straight points without a miss to push Iowa State in front at the break.

Niang sits just three points behind Fred Hoiberg at 1,990 for No. 3 on the all-time ISU scorers list and is tied for eighth on the Big 12 career-scoring chart.

'If Georges makes his first shot, I feel like he is going to have a crazy game and he can explode at any moment,' Morris said. 'When Georges got it going, it falls down the line for everybody else. It's big that we always get Georges going. He was throwing a rock in the ocean tonight.'

Jameel McKay returned after a two-game suspension and had eight points, seven rebounds and four blocks off the bench. He surpassed 100 career blocks and has 41 this season.

'We can't be special without him,' Prohm said. 'That's what I told him in the locker room after the game, that's what we need in Jameel McKay going forward as we go into the last three weeks of the regular season.'