Hogue huge down stretch in Cyclone win over Cowboys

AMES - Dustin Hogue saw the ball go to the corner and Tavarius Shine rise up for the potential game winning 3-pointer. Hogue was just trying to make a play, any play, to save his team.

'I got a couple fingers on it,” Hogue said.

He got more than that. Hogue's block launched the ball into the stands with less than a second left to preserve Iowa State's 63-61 win against Oklahoma State on Tuesday night. A desperation 3 by the Cowboys (11-3, 1-1) after the block with .9 seconds fell short, gave the Cyclones (11-2, 1-0) a four-game winning streak in the series.

Hogue finished with 17 points - all in the second half - and eight rebounds to lead Iowa State, with seven coming within the final three minutes. He also went 3 of 4 from long range, but his 3 with 2:56 to go in a one-point game wasn't by design.

'I didn't run a play, I'll be honest with you, to have Dustin shoot a 3-pointer. That wasn't the call,” ISU Coach Fred Hoiberg chuckled after the game. 'It was just the way the defense played it and Monte (Morris) made a good read and Dustin just stepped up with confidence.”

'I wasn't really trying to score too much, but Bryce (Dejean-Jones) was telling me to shoot the ball and Jameel (McKay) was telling me to shoot the ball,” Hogue said. 'When you have your teammates giving you that type of confidence to try to take over the game or shoot the ball, things happen for you.”

As big as Hogue's points and block proved to be down the stretch, it was Matt Thomas who kept Iowa State afloat offensively during stretches. The sophomore tallied 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including two 3's near the end of the second half to give the Cyclones a cushioned lead.

'We needed him on the floor the way he was shooting it and keeping a defender close,” Hoiberg said. 'They weren't leaving him at all.”

On a night when two of Iowa State's most potent players were struggling offensively, Thomas' 22 minutes of action were critical. Georges Niang and Bryce Dejean-Jones combined to shoot 5 of 19 from the field.

Hoiberg said he worked with Thomas in practice recently, watching him make 29-of-30 shots in about a five-minute span. For shooters to have success, confidence plays as big of a role as anything and that's what Hoiberg saw from Thomas in the last couple days.

'It's a great luxury to have a guy like Matt Thomas who can step up, and really carry the team for a while,” Hoiberg said.