Iowa State blows 20-point lead, survives against Kansas State, 70-65

AMES - Steve Prohm has tried to nit-pick wins before.

Did his teams win by enough? Where did they win? Who did they beat? Really, none of it matters. He eventually learned that is a miserable way to go through a season.

When Prohm entered his press conference after the Iowa State men's basketball team's 70-65 win against Kansas State, he was all smiles. The cliché 'a win is a win,” even after the Cyclones (13-6, 5-3) saw a 20-point lead disappear, holds true.

'I'm as happy as I've ever been right now,” Prohm said. 'We're 5-3 in the best league in the country and in third place.”

The Wildcats (15-5, 4-4) fell behind 46-26 in the first minute of the second half and were down 16 with a little more than 13 minutes to play. From there they used a 20-3 run in just more than eight minutes to take a 58-57 lead - their first lead since 5-3.

Iowa State, which shot 59.3 percent in the first half and looked all but unstoppable offensively, knew a K-State run was coming. Weathering it and not folding when the lead was surrendered became the focus.

'Anyone is capable of doing that in this league, and we knew they were due for (a run),” said Naz Mitrou-Long, who had 13 points and six rebounds. 'As good as they are in their offensive sets and the players that they have, we knew they were due for that.

'It wasn't pretty, but we pulled out with the ‘W' and that's what matters.”

Kansas State was within two with 24 seconds to play before Mitrou-Long connected on two free throws. Both teams traded turnovers before the Wildcats had one last attempt to snag a lead. Deonte Burton came up with a steal with six seconds left and was fouled on a breakaway dunk attempt to help seal the win.

As encouraged as Iowa State was walking away with the win they knew where the deficiencies were - mostly in the form of 14 turnovers, three of which happened in the last two minutes. The Wildcats missed three free throws and had three turnovers after they took a one-point lead.

'That little 10-minute stretch we weren't very good,” Prohm said. 'Guys know we weren't tough enough defensively, ball-screen defense, 50-50 plays. Then we missed some shots that we need to make.

'When we got tested and got down one, they responded and they finished.”

Shooting guard Matt Thomas helped spark the first-half surge, ending the night with a career-high 25 points and seven 3-pointers - he was also 0-for-3 from the free throw line and had three turnovers.

In his last two games against Kansas State, Thomas has a combined 45 points on 69.6 percent shooting while going 12-for-18 from 3-point range.

'I just go into every game with a clear mind,” Thomas said. 'I think I missed my first shot actually, but after you see it go through the net a couple times the rim starts getting a little bigger unless you're on the free throw line.

'It was a good night that got sloppy at the end, but we found a way.”

Point guard Monte Morris had 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and two turnovers in 36 minutes while Burton had nine points, six rebounds, four blocks, three steals, two assists and three turnovers.

Merrill Holden started for the first time since the loss at Iowa and had five points, four rebounds and two blocks in 23 minutes. Wesley Iwundu led Kansas State with 15 points and six rebounds.

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