KANSAS CITY — They didn’t go out without a fight.

The Cyclones entered Wednesday’s first-round game with hopes to move on and hopes to spoil Colorado’s NCAA tournament chances.

The ISU seniors just wanted to keep playing.

“It was tough. We just kept fighting,” said ISU senior Jake Anderson, who scored a career-high 33 points in his final collegiate game, a 77-75 loss to Colorado. “This was my last college game, so I was going to go down swinging, regardless.”

Anderson closed out his first and only season in cardinal and gold with a bang.

His 33 points led all scorers, and 22 of them came in the second half. He only had six rebounds, slightly under his season average of 7.3 entering the game, but he was 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 13-of-20, 65 percent, from the field.

“[Anderson] came out and played his balls off,” said ISU guard Diante Garrett, also a senior who played his final game for the Cyclones. “He came out, went to the basket, hit 3s … he did it all trying to help us win today.”

Garrett was no slouch in his final game, either.

He had 19 points, 15 of which came in the second half, on 6-of-14 shooting and six assists. He played all 40 minutes and turned the ball over only once.

“Jake got off to a great start, so we went down and pretty much ran a play for Jake every time,” said ISU coach Fred Hoiberg. “If it wasn’t there, we put Diante in a pick and roll and let him try to get to the rim. I thought both of those guys played very well today.”

Still, the seniors’ efforts weren’t enough for the Cyclones.

The two scored 37 of the Cyclones’ 47 points after halftime, but Colorado and guard Alec Burks, who scored 25 in the game’s second frame, were too much.

“Jake Anderson has been playing at a whole different level,” said CU coach Tad Boyle. “Jake is a terrific player and he played awful well today. My hat goes off to that kid.”

The Cyclones’ other senior on the floor, forward Jamie Vanderbeken, struggled all afternoon, shooting just 2-for-11.

The typically hot shooting Scott Christopherson also struggled, going 3-of-16, and hitting just two of his nine 3-point tries, opening things up for Anderson to take the lead.

“It was just one of those nights for him,” Vanderbeken said. “I feel bad for him that he played that well and doesn’t have a chance to play again in an Iowa State uniform.”

Anderson and Garrett stole the show in the second half, scoring 20 straight points for the Cyclones during a seven-minute stretch.

During that stretch at the 10-minute mark of the half, Garrett scored 11 — including an uncharacteristic dunk — but Anderson alone was 4-of-4 shooting, had an assist and grabbed a rebound.

“He’s the one that kept us in the game,” Garrett said of Anderson. “Him being aggressive, hitting threes, getting to the rack … stuff like that helped our team get into a good position to win.”