Christopherson gets back on track with 16 points

AMES - Iowa State guard Scott Christopherson smiled.

His coach, Fred Hoiberg, rolled his eyes.

In the aftermath of an electric, but choppy 86-76 Cy-Hawk Series win over Iowa, Christopherson made a postgame proclamation not many could echo.

“It's a great thing to say you've never been beat by the Hawkeyes,” said Christopherson, who scored 16 points to help stoke the Cyclones' third straight win in the series before a sellout crowd of 14,356 at Hilton Coliseum.

ISU (7-3) posted three consecutive wins over Iowa for just the second time in school history, matching a run accomplished from 1983-85.

The Hawkeyes (5-5) trailed by as many as 24 points, but used a too-late 15-3 run to cut the deficit to eight on Josh Oglebsy's 3-point play with 32 seconds left.

Royce White led the Cyclones with 17 points and eight rebounds. “It was intense, man,” said White, who played in his first Cy-Hawk game. “I could feel the emotion in warmups and coming out in the beginning. The emotion was there for me - and I'm from Minnesota.”

The 6-8, 270-pound forward scored 14 in the first half, including a dazzling dunking and passing sequence that made the score 8-4.

“He showed who he is,” Hoiberg said. “He was doing a little bit of everything.”

While White dominated early - even hitting jump shots - reserve guard Bubu Palo supplied a tightly-controlled, but steady stream of energy.

The former Ames Little Cyclone played a career-high 30 minutes, scored a personal-best 14 points and provided a needed lift as starting point guard Chris Allen languished in foul trouble.

“He was so rock solid,” said Hoiberg, who improved to 5-1 against Iowa as a player and coach. “Defensively he's as good as we have.”

Palo shot 15 free throws - making nine - and pulled his shirt up above his waist, exhaling, as the final horn blared.

“I was a little fatigued,” said Palo, who also distributed a game-high six assists. “It was the most minutes I've played in a long time. And in this type of environment you've got to play hard every second, so I was a little gassed.”

When was the last time Palo had played this extensively?

“In high school, my senior year,” said Palo, a teammate of Harrison Barnes on Ames' 2009 state title team. “So it's been a couple years. It was difficult, but you've got to fight through it.”

Iowa State pushed through a sluggish second half, allowing 49 points to the Hawkeyes on 49 percent shooting.

A key sequence unfolded with 6:50 left and Iowa trailing 68-55.

The Cyclones' Chris Babb drained one of his two 3-pointers and Christopherson scored back-to-back driving layups.

“You could just see it in his face that he was going to come out and have a great game,” Hoiberg said of Christopherson's game day demeanor. “Very focused.”

Christopherson scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half and committed one turnover - on an offensive foul.

He enjoyed his second game off the ball after playing more point guard early this season.

“I've been playing like garbage lately,” Christopherson said. “I just wanted to come in and get on the right track.”

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