Farokhmanesh's dagger sends Iowa State past UNI

Slow down, Cyclone fans.

This is unquestionably Coach Greg McDermott's most talented team at Iowa State and one that has the look of a postseason player. It also is a group still learning how to close games, as evidenced by last night's 63-60 loss to Northern Iowa at Hilton Coliseum.

ISU's late-game execution isn't quite there.

“This team doesn't know how to win yet,” said McDermott, who has lost three of his four games at ISU to best friend Ben Jacobson. “We have to make better decisions on offense and be a little tougher on defense. That's on me. I have to fix it. We'll get after it.”

The Cyclones (6-2) let go of a seven-point second half lead and faltered down the stretch when the experienced Panthers, the preseason pick to win the Missouri Valley Conference, hung tough.

Ali Farokhmanesh hit a 3-pointer with 34.1 seconds left that put UNI up for good.

His basket came on a runout after ISU forward LaRon Dendy inexplicably took a baseline jumper with only a few seconds gone off the shot clock at a time when the Cyclones wanted to burn clock.

Most of the announced crowd of 14,376 was stunned.

Dendy's shot didn't draw iron and UNI picked it out of the air and quickly took it the other way.

“I've got to get a timeout before Diante (Garrett) can ever let go of that pass,” McDermott said. “It's learning how to win and understanding time and score. I probably trust them a little too much. That's on me.”

Garrett made one of two free throws to cut the lead to 61-60 with 15.6 seconds to play. UNI guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe calmly swished a pair of his own and, after Lucca Staiger missed a long three, Craig Brackins' desperation trey at the buzzer on an inbounds play fell short.

ISU's top three scorers – Brackins, Staiger and Marquis Gilstrap – scored just six points in the second half.

The Panthers (5-1) made it tough to even get the ball into Brackins.

“Coach Jacobson wasn't born last night,” McDermott said. “He knows how important Craig is to our team. They committed tow and sometimes two-and-a-half people to Craig.”

The 6-10 forward, who had 32 points and 16 rebounds last season against UNI, finished with 13 points, only two after halftime. Both he and Staiger, who kicked a water bottle during a late-game timeout, showed signs of frustration.

“They just brought hard defense. Hard defense, you try to go at it,” Brackins said.

ISU's bigs had serious trouble with 7-foot, 280-pound center Jordan Eglseder.

Brackins, Dendy, Justin Hamilton and Jamie Vanderbeken all had their turn defending him. Eglseder finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds and got about any shot he wanted inside.

“He's a big guy,” Brackins said. “We had to block him out a couple times after he shot it and we didn't do that. He got his own rebound. There were some defensive breakdowns by us big guys.”

Vanderbeken was hurt midway through the second half and did not return.

Panther forward Adam Koch had 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Ahelegbe also was in double figures with 10. UNI held a 38-31 rebounding advantage.

“That was our best 40 minutes of basketball this year, and we needed every bit of it,” Jacobson said.

The Cyclones leave today for Saturday's Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series match-up with California.

McDermott has some work to do between now and then.

-- Eric Petersen