It took a mammoth offensive effort to overcome a long night defensively, but Iowa State topped Northern Colorado 90-82 on Tuesday night at Hilton Coliseum.

The Cyclones (3-1) hit a school-record 16 three-pointers, but allowed the Bears (0-4) to shoot 49.2 percent from the floor — including 56.7 percent in the second half — keeping the game close throughout.

“We’re fortunate to walk out of this game with a win,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “If we don’t make shots at an unbelievable clip tonight, we get beat.”

It took the Cyclones shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from the three-point line to stay in front of the Bears, despite having a 13-point halftime lead.

Right out of the locker room to start the second half, the Cyclones got a three from sophomore Melvin Ejim to go up 16. Four minutes later, though, the Bears had battled back to just a four-point deficit at 57-53, a 14-2 run capped by a three-pointer from Tate Unruh, who scored 13 in the loss.

“It was more of us just not buckling down and getting stops,” said ISU forward Royce White, who had 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the win. “They were hitting some tough shots, but that’s not our concern. We’ve just got to buckle down and get better at team defense.”

In the first six minutes of the second half, Northern Colorado shot eight-of-11 from the floor, getting the Bears’ offense into a rhythm that Hoiberg said his defense couldn’t shake.

“We let them get into such a rhythm in the second half,” Hoiberg said. “A lot of times it doesn’t matter what you do defensively now, because of the rhythm they’re in. They come out, they start raining threes on you. It’s tough to get stops when you allow a team to get a rhythm like that.”

White said the Cyclones have been emphasizing team defense in practice, but come game time the squad has been unable to string together defensive stops.

Hoiberg, who was clearly frustrated following the close win against the defending Big Sky Conference champions, said it’s his team’s mindset that leads to long runs by its opposition.

“I feel extremely fortunate to walk away from this game with a win,” Hoiberg said. “It’s a defensive mentality that you have to have that I’m not sure we have right now.”

Northern Colorado had five players score in double figures, led by Paul Garnica and Emmanual Addo, with 15 point each.

The Bears never again got within four of the Cyclones, but cut the lead to six points four times.

“They exposed us. There’s no doubt about that,” Hoiberg said. “At some point, you’ve got to find a way to buckle down and string together a series of stops.”

On the offensive end, Iowa State had a record night.

The squad’s 16 three-pointers is a school record, as was its 36 three-point tries, and the Cyclones had six players score in double figures, led by Chris Allen’s career-high 23 points.

“All week, talking with coach and talking with a lot of the guys and assistant coaches, they were telling me I was passing up a lot of shots and I need to be more aggressive,” Allen said, “so I just took initiative and anytime I thought i had a good shot, I took it.”

The transfer from Michigan State shot 8-of-16 from the floor and 4-of-11 from behind the three-point line.

White wasn’t his usual dominant self on the offensive end, notching only 10 points, but led all players in rebounds with eight and tied for the team lead in blocks with two. His seven assists were also a game high.

Now the Cyclones take to the road to face two games to close out the South Padre Island Invitational and will face Providence on Friday before playing Rice of Conference USA on Saturday.

“It’s big for us. We’ve got to go down there to a neutral site and find a way to get some wins against some decent teams, some pretty good teams,” White said. “We’ve just got to keep getting better, game by game. Each game’s just a growing process right now.”