No. 5 Iowa State blows 18-point lead, loses to fourth-ranked Auburn in the Maui Invitational

Editor’s note: This story was written from Iowa.

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Six minutes and nine seconds.

That’s how long it took for No. 5 Iowa State to relinquish a 16-point halftime lead to fourth-ranked Auburn in Monday’s Maui Invitational quarterfinal.

The Cyclones (3-1) flummoxed the Tigers (5-0) in the first 20 minutes, but struggled to counter their second-half adjustments, eventually falling, 83-81, on star forward Johni Broome’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left.

“We take a lot of pride in team defense,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said on the Cyclone Radio Network after the game. “Team rebounding and all those sorts of things. I think it’s a great game for those guys. We’ll be better for it, and, unfortunately, one more play and it can go the other way.”

Senior guard Keshon Gilbert shined for the Cyclones, scoring a game-high 23 points in 21 minutes while battling foul trouble most of the game. He made eight of his 10 field goal attempts, and six of his seven free throws, but turned the ball over in the closing seconds with a chance to win the game.

ISU’s defense then denied the Tigers’ Denver Jones on a last-second layup attempt, but Broome deftly used his fingertips to turn an offensive rebound into the game-winning basket as time expired.

Broome finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Auburn beat a fellow top-10 team for the second time this season and the Cyclones left the court shaking their heads, stinging from a loss that could have been a statement win early in the season.

“We’re a real connected group, so us not splintering in those times of adversity, we really came together, and we still gave ourselves a chance to win at the end of the game,” Gilbert said.

Gilbert’s two free throws with 38 seconds left gave ISU an 81-79 lead. Auburn’s Kelly Miles then tied the game with a driving layup and the Cyclones wound the shot clock down to 11 seconds before Broome strafed the ball away from Gilbert with 11 seconds left. Ten seconds later, Broome cleaned up the offensive boards to complete the Tigers’ comeback win — much to the chagrin of ISU, which never trailed until the 4:01 mark of the second half.

“Our team, we’re gonna fight to the end,” said transfer forward Dishon Jackson, who scored 13 points while going 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. “It doesn’t matter if we’re down 20 or up 20, we’re still gonna fight to the end. I think this is a great learning experience for our team, and I think we’re gonna come back stronger from this.”

Auburn outrebounded the Cyclones, 21-10, in the second half and crafted an 11-0 edge in second-chance points in the final 20 minutes. ISU outscored the Tigers 19-4 in points off turnovers but couldn’t get a takeaway when it mattered most at the end.

Curtis Jones added 14 points for the Cyclones and Milan Momcilovic chipped in with 12. Joshua Jefferson added nine points and a team-high eight rebounds for ISU, which will face the Dayton on Tuesday at approximately 7:30 p.m.

The Flyers are ranked among KenPom’s top 40, so the Cyclones will face another stern test in a stacked tournament that started with Memphis’ 99-97 upset in overtime of second-ranked and two-time defending national champion Connecticut in the opening game.

“When you come in here, you're competitive, you want to win every game, but we respect our opponents,” Otzelberger said. “We’ll use the feeling that we have — the frustration and disappointment that we have — to our advantage to bounce back tomorrow and play great. That’s what we’ll do.”

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