Cyclones toss one away

MANHATTAN, Kan. - The inbounds pass sailed over Georges Niang's head into the backcourt, and the precious 4.8 seconds began to tick away.

A quick feed to Naz Long for a long 3-pointer resulted in more of a desperation shot than a desired one and that helped cost Iowa State a road victory Saturday that had looked all but assured with six minutes remaining.

'Certain things in life make you want to throw up, and this is certainly one of them,” said Iowa State Coach Fred Hoiberg. 'It's a hurt locker room in there.”

No. 12 Iowa State saw a double-digit lead melt into a 70-69 loss at Kansas State. It was the second in a row for the Cyclones (20-8, 10-6), but this time, players felt the miscues were more of reflection on themselves than any actions by the Wildcats (15-15, 8-9).

'It's a heartbreaking loss,” Long said. 'There's no secret to it; everybody saw what happened. A quick change of events can hurt you.”

Iowa State led by 10 points with 8:12 remaining and by nine with 6:21 left. But it collapsed down the stretch, accumulating five turnovers in the final six minutes. No giveaway was more glaring than a misdirected pass from Niang on an inbounds play along the K-State bench.

Miscommunication between Niang and Jameel McKay saw the pass get intercepted by Wesley Iwundu, who took it along a clear path for a dunk. The turnover gave Kansas State its 70-69 lead and overshadowed Niang's 21-point performance. The junior's five 3-pointers were a career high, and he shot 50 percent from the field.

'The ball got tipped, I passed the ball,” a dejected Niang said. 'That's my fault. There's nothing more you could say about it. It happens; it just can't happen at this part of the season.”

'He was getting buckets and it sucks that when one bad thing happens it stands out,” Long said. 'Unfortunately, that was the possession that lost us the game. But without Georges, we're not in any position that we're in.”

The Wildcats used their last foul to give with 4.8 seconds left and took a 30-second timeout to set up for the final shot. Hoiberg drew up a play for Niang, but the long pass from Monte Morris into the backcourt left the Cyclones with few options.

'I was supposed to hit Georges inside the 3-point line, but when I was throwing it to him, he was kind of pushing and I threw it over his head in the backcourt,” said Morris, who had 15 points and five rebounds. 'At that point I knew it was going to take something phenomenal for us to get this win in here. I put that on me, making that pass to Georges.”

Iowa State dropped to a tie for third place in the Big 12 with Baylor and West Virginia at 10-6. Kansas sits at the top of the standing at 12-4 with Oklahoma in second at 11-5, making last week's chance for Iowa State climb into a tie for first place seem like a distant memory.

'You had the game,” Niang said of Saturday's loss. 'You try to hold back your feelings as much as possible, but this is a game we had won.”

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