Huge second half propels Iowa State

FORT WORTH, Texas - Guards Georges Niang and Monte Morris each had a game-high 19 points and the No. 17 Iowa State Cyclones used a big second half last night to defeat TCU, 89-76, in a Big 12 regular-season finale.

Niang scored 17 of his total during the Cyclones' 63-point second half. Iowa State shot 71 percent in the last 20 minutes.

Guard Bryce Dejean-Jones had 15 and forward Jameel McKay had 14 points, including 10 in the second half, and 10 rebounds for Iowa State (22-8, 12-6).

Four players scored in double figures for TCU (17-14, 4-14), led by guard Kenrich Williams' 17. Guard Kyan Anderson had 16 and guard Trey Zeigler added 14.

Next up for both is the Big 12 tournament. TCU, the No. 9 seed, will face eight-seed Kansas State on Wednesday, and No. 2-seed Iowa State plays the winner of the game between Texas and Texas Tech on Thursday.

Down six at halftime, the Cyclones hit eight of their first 10 shots in the second half during a 16-4 run. McKay had six during the spurt, including a dunk that put once-trailing Iowa State up five.

Iowa State increased its lead to eight with Bryce Dejean-Jones' slam dunk off Morris' missed layup at the 11:20 mark. Morris' 3-pointer and assist on Jones' 3-pointer capped an 8-0 run in 52 seconds and gave the Cyclones' their biggest lead to that point, 15 at 6:09.

The Cyclones opened the game hitting seven of their first 20 field-goal attempts, but connected on 22 of their last 33.

TCU turned the ball over on its first three possessions and opened the game 1 of 7 from the field, yet held a halftime lead despite shooting only 31 percent.