Babb treys nail Longhorns

AMES - As Iowa State guard Chris Babb rose up, so did his teammates.

Forward Royce White smiled from the bench.

Fellow guard Tyrus McGee raised his arms.

Babb's fourth 3-pointer went swish - helping him and his once-again hot hand beat Texas, 77-71, Wednesday night before a boisterous crowd of 12,248 at Hilton Coliseum in the Big 12 opener for both teams.

“We fed off our crowd,” ISU coach Fred Hoiberg said. “That was an unbelievable atmosphere out there.”

Babb, who had missed 33 of his last 40 3-point tries, sank five of nine and finished with 17 points.

“We had five guys in double figures,” said Babb, who made 25 of 48 3-pointers before the downturn. “That's going to open a lot of things up.”

The Cyclones (11-3, 1-0) surged to their sixth straight win, but not without drama - and 16 missed free throws.

The Longhorns (10-4, 0-1) started the second half with a 10-0 run to tie the score and hung in the game - trailing by just four with 16 seconds left - despite losing star guard J'Covan Brown to an ankle injury.

“Down the stretch, we believed in ourselves,” said White, who was coming off a bout with the flu and scored 14 points. “We understood that if we stay together we can beat this team. And they're a good team. We stayed solid and we beat them.”

The Cyclones snapped a seven-game skid against Texas, including three straight losses at home.

“Instead of us folding, we found a way to make our run,” White said.

ISU, which led 44-34 at halftime, won its conference opener for the first time since toppling Missouri 66-65 on Jan. 6, 2007 on the road.

The Cyclones struggled rebounding, trailing 23-8 on the glass at one point.

“They go after it now,” said Hoiberg, whose team ended up being outrebounded 38-29. “Those are some physical cats. We're going against some length now - and some physical players and it's going to be every night for the rest of the year for us. We need to do a better job out of the gates, trying to establish it.”

ISU stabilized after the Longhorns' big run, though, forging a 51-47 lead on White's dunk with 15 minutes left.

That play helped stoke a 16-3 spurt that gave the Cyclones a 60-47 lead.

The Longhorns never fully recovered, though they did pull within five a few times.

ISU rolled to a 44-34 halftime lead behind sizzling 3-point shooting.

Babb shrugged off his 7-for-40 slump from downtown, drilling his first two tries.

“I knew I was going to come out of it eventually,” Babb said. “It came down to great preparation.”

Point guard Chris Allen also nailed two from long distance.

Reserve forward Anthony Booker - seeing more action again because White was whistled for two early fouls - sank all three of his 3-point attempts.

In total, the Cyclones went 9 of 12 from beyond the arc in the first half, helping offset a 19-8 disadvantage on the boards.

Quick hands also aided ISU's hot start.

Texas lost 12 turnovers in the first half and trailed 39-25 before unfurling a 7-0 run.

But ISU closed the half with a pair of free throws by Babb and Booker's third 3-pointer, leading 44-32 before a crowd-displeasing foul call with 0.8 seconds left allowed the Longhorns' Sheldon McClellan to hit two from the line and make the score 44-34.

Once again, the Cyclones enjoyed a boost from its bench.

Guard Tyrus McGee drove the lane for two baskets in the first half.

Booker had a season-high 11 points in 15 minutes.

“Hitting three 3s, that was pretty unexpected from him,” Hoiberg said.

Hitting again was entirely expected for Babb - by him, his teammates and coaches.

“It was great to see (him) coming out of the gates they way he did, hitting shots and playing with a swagger,” Hoiberg said.

[nggallery id=751]