Iowa State gets defensive in 2nd half of 71-42 win

With a week off for finals, Iowa State's Diante Garrett did some of his studying in the gym.

Coach Fred Hoiberg, a former Cyclone star who knows a thing or two about shooting, had Garrett make a couple of minor changes in his form, and they paid off in a big way.

Garrett scored 27 points to surpass 1,000 for his career and Iowa State held Dartmouth to 15 second-half points in a 71-42 victory on Sunday.

"I just looked for my spots where I could score," said Garrett, the 28th Iowa State player to reach 1,000. "It was flowing through our offense, and I was picking it apart trying to find out where I could go to get my baskets and create for my teammates. It went through today."

Needing 10 points to get his milestone, Garrett made 10 of 16 shots with four 3-pointers to run his total to 1,017. He also handed out six assists and made two steals.

Garrett had made only 11 of 38 shots in the two previous games. Hoiberg, who scored 1,993 points at Iowa State, said Garrett was leaning backward on his shot and was a little off balance.

"The one guy this week that really benefited was Diante because he was able to get in the gym and get up extra shots and work on his technique a little bit, work on his form," Hoiberg said. "I'd seen a couple of things I wanted him to work on and he shot the heck out of it all week at practice."

Freshman Bubu Palo added a season-high 11 points for the Cyclones (10-2), who trailed by as many as four in the first half and led just 28-27 at halftime.

Palo also provided a spark with his defense in the second half, when Iowa State extended its pressure and traps and forced Dartmouth to miss 21 of its 25 shots.

"They were executing well, but I feel like in the second half we just buckled down, the crowd gave us a little energy, we started getting some buckets and that just fed our defense," Palo said. "We just got out and ran, which we weren't able to do (earlier) because we weren't getting stops."

Ronnie Dixon and Clive Weeden scored seven points each to lead the Big Green (3-7), who missed their first seven shots of the second half and didn't improve much after that.

Iowa State scored the first nine points of the second half, and Dartmouth didn't get a basket in the half until David Rufful hit a short jumper with 12:42 left, cutting the lead to 37-30. A little more than four minutes later, a 17-2 run had bumped the lead to 22.

The right-handed Palo slid down the lane for a double-pump, left-handed layup and Garrett, Scott Christopherson, Palo and Jamie Vanderbeken then hit consecutive 3s for a 51-30 lead.

After Kirk Crecco interrupted the run with a bucket for Dartmouth, Palo buried yet another 3 to give the Cyclones a 54-32 advantage. They ended up scoring on 10 straight possessions and led by as many as 31 in the final minute.

"With our numbers, we don't press as much as we'd like to, but we had to change something up," Hoiberg said. "We extended out, we tried to playing the passing lanes. That led to some turnovers and that got us out running. And once you get some layups, that opened up the 3."

Dartmouth took a 17-13 lead midway through the first half and, after Iowa State tied it, led three more times, the last at 27-26 on Dixon's driving shot with 1:55 left in the half.

The Big Green appeared on the verge of increasing that lead when Jabari Trotter swiped the ball and went in for a breakaway layup. He didn't see Melvin Ejim hustling after him, however, and the 6-foot-6 freshman blocked the shot, drawing a roar from the crowd.

Moments later, Garrett drove for a layup to give him 14 points for the half and Iowa State its one-point lead heading into halftime.

Garrett came out looking as though he wanted to get the 10 points he needed to reach 1,000 in the first couple of minutes. He made his first two shots, a 3-pointer and a jumper, and nailed another 3 at the 15:58 mark to hike his total to 998.

But it took almost 13 minutes before he got the next two points, finally notching them with a floater in the lane for a 24-23 lead. He followed that with a fadeaway that put the Cyclones up by three, but Dartmouth came right back with four straight points to take what would be the Big Green's final lead.

"It's great for Diante to be part of that," Hoiberg said. "He works his tail off every day. He's the energizer bunny for us and he never gets tried. It's very well deserved."