DES MOINES — Melvin Ejim didn’t expect it to happen the way it did.

With 1:30 left in an overtime game against in-state rival Northern Iowa, the Cyclones were ahead 79-75. Deandre Kane had just ballet-tip-toed his way through the lane and missed a contested layup. Dustin Hogue snatched a rebound and sent it back out to Ejim at the top of the key, standing all alone.

With 1:23 left in the game, Ejim had the chance to back it out and milk another 35 seconds off the clock, cutting the game’s life in half.

Instead, Ejim sunk his fourth 3-pointer of the half and second in the last two possessions. That’s what you do when you’ve scored your 20th point of a single half. You don’t think, you just do.

“That’s one of those no, no, no, no, yes deals,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg of the play.

Ejim finished the game with 22 points and seven rebounds, 20 and five of those coming in the second half and overtime, leading Iowa State (7-0) to a 91-82 overtime win against UNI (3-5) at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday.

“I played a little bit harder, tried to get a little more rebounds and that kind of sparked my energy and we started going,” Ejim said.

It was an entire team’s transformation in the second half that turned the game around, though, after UNI had jumped out to a 42-29 lead at halftime.

The disciplined attack and tempo of the Panthers limited Iowa State to just 41 percent shooting and three assists in the first half, cutting the legs out from underneath the transition offense the team thrives on.

After the Cyclones had 28 assists on 33 buckets nearly a week prior against Auburn, they had totaled only three assists on 12 made shots in the first half and had an assist/turnover ratio of three to seven.

In the second half, a slow start had UNI ahead 49-31, Hoiberg called a quick timeout, laying into Naz Long who gave up the basket.

From there Iowa State outscored UNI 60-33 to finish the game. In the second half, they tallied 13 assists on 18 made buckets and only five turnovers, while forcing 10 from UNI.

“Once we really started defending, getting active hands, getting turnovers, you look at our first half I think we had [three] assists,” Hoiberg said. “That ain’t us. We get that ball moving.”

The game nearly didn’t go to overtime. If Kane makes his second free throw at the end of regulation, UNI forward Seth Tuttle doesn’t bank in a 3-pointer to send it to an extra period.

It’s not the first time this team has experienced a gut-wrenching play to extend the game, a-la Ben McLemore at Phog Allen Fieldhouse last year. But during overtime, this team showed its resolve even with Georges Niang and his 22 points fouled out.

Iowa State out-scored UNI 20-11 in the extra period, making 5-of-7 shots from the field and eight of nine free throws.

“We’ve been down in that spot where guys have hit buzzer-beaters on us for the past two years,” Ejim said. “We’ve been there, but just being down with a whole new group of guys, we were able to show our resolve and come back.”