Oklahoma State hands Iowa State men’s basketball first home loss this season, 64-56

AMES — They clanked off the back of the iron and skidded off of the front.

No. 11 Iowa State — the worst free-throw shooting team in the Big 12 — struggled from the foul line again Saturday against Oklahoma State, falling for the first time at Hilton Coliseum this season, 64-56, before a sold-out crowd of 14,267.

The Cyclones (16-8, 7-5) shot just 9-for-19 from the line and 35.1 percent from the field against the Cowboys (16-9, 7-5), who completed the season sweep while winning for the third straight time in Ames.

“We were 9 of 23 from the foul line if you really think about it because we missed four front ends of one-and-ones,” ISU head coach T.J Otzelberger said. “Is it correctable? It is. It’s (about) hard work and mental toughness.”

Aljaz Kunc scored 13 points and Tamin Lipsey added 12 for the Cyclones, who had been the last remaining conference team with a spotless home record. John-Michael Wright scored 19 points for the Cowboys, who went on a 14-6 run in the final 5:32.

“I think our problems started way before down the stretch,” Otzelberger said. “I felt like today our mental toughness wasn’t very good. We start the second half, after a reasonably good first half defensively, we gave up basket after basket, and I felt like we were always worried about what wasn’t going our way offensively, whether that’s free throws, fouls — all things that we allowed to get to us and prevented us from being a mentally tough team.”

ISU started the second half strong, though, taking its biggest lead of the game, at 35-28, on a Jaren Holmes 3-pointer. Oklahoma State responded with an 8-2 run to pull within one, at 37-36, two minutes later. It remained a two-possession game until the closing moments as the Cowboys pulled away.

“They played a great game,” Lipsey said. “They were very aggressive. They had us on our heels a little bit and that’s not how we normally play. We like to be the aggressor.”

ISU led for nearly two-thirds of the game but the 10 missed free throws coupled with Oklahoma State’s blistering 57.1 percent shooting in the second half kept the game close. That set the stage for the Cowboys’ dominant play down the stretch. Lipsey was the only Cyclone to make a field goal in the final 10:35 of the game – and he only hit three in that long span.

“I think our defense was the difference again, just not allowing them to ever get comfortable, because they’re really good offensively, especially in this building,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton said. “I think they average like 76 (points) a game in here versus mid-60s on the road, so our guys were really dialed in.”

ISU has lost four of its last six games and will seek to rebound against No. 17 TCU at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Hilton Coliseum.

“I’ve got to do a better job of preparing our guys — and I will,” Otzelberger said. “That was out of character for us.”