IOWA CITY — Scott Christopherson did it again.

He already scored 29 in the win against Drake, then 25 in the loss to California.

Friday night Christopherson was lights out again, and led the Cyclones (8-2) with 30 points — a career high — in a 75-72 win over in-state rival Iowa (5-5) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

“Scott Christofferson was huge. He’s just playing on a whole other level right now,” said first-year ISU coach Fred Hoiberg after the game.

With the game at a 70-68 Cyclone lead with 1:08 left in the game, the ISU offense came down the court looking to milk the clock and preserve its lead.

But ISU guard Jake Anderson found Christopherson wide open in the corner, and the junior hit his seventh three of the game, giving Iowa State a lead it wouldn’t give up.

“For him to step up and knock down that shot, when they were coming back on us in the last minute of the game was huge for us,” Hoiberg said.

Christopherson scored a game-high 30 points and became the first Cyclone to score 30 points against Iowa since Terry Woods scored 36 in 1989.

“That’s one of my roles on this team is to get out there and knock down shots,” Christopherson said. “When I get an open shot, it’s a lot more than me just knocking down a shot. It’s guys getting me the ball, it’s guys getting me open.”

Christopherson shot 10-of-17, including 7-of-12 from three-point range, and the LaCrosse, Wis. native’s hot night came in a game where the rest of the ISU shooters were a combined 18-of-51, or 35.3 percent.

“Having a guy like that can shoot the three that good, having him on our team is working out for us real good,” said guard Diante Garrett, who struggled to shoot just 5-of-24. “Him balling like that in the second half, that was fun.”

Christopherson scored 24 of his points in the second half. The junior is now shooting 59.3 percent from three-point range.

“Best shooter in the country. That’s all I’m gonna say is he’s the best shooter in the country,” said ISU forward Jamie Vanderbeken. “The way he’s shooting it, he’s shooting a lot and he’s making a lot. You show me a better shooter in the country right now, I’d like to see it.”

Christopherson has scored in double figures in nine straight games, has made a three-pointer in 13 straight games, and this was his third game with five or more makes from beyond the arc this season.

“I was [disappointed],” said first-year Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “It wasn’t like we didn’t show it to [the Iowa players] on film, wasn’t like we didn’t walk through it.”

The Cyclones jumped out to a 12-4 lead on the Hawkeyes, but Iowa would battle back after ramping up the defensive pressure early on in the first half. Iowa crept back into the game, and eventually came back to take a 15-12 lead.

The ISU offense would struggle the remainder of the first half and Iowa State trailed 40-31 going into halftime.

“I didn’t like the way our first half ended,” Hoiberg said. “I really got on our guys, challenged them and they responded. To their credit, they really came out in the second half and played terrific.”

To open the second half, Iowa State went on a 30-12 run, and opened the game up to a 61-52 lead, thanks in large part to improved transition plays and defensive rebounding.

“Coach Fred just told us we were going to hit adversity,” Garrett said. “Before we even got down here he told us we were going to adversity and just got to learn from it, and I think we did that in the second half tonight.”

After being up as many as 10, the Hawkeyes again began to creep back into the game, with help from Vanderbeken fouling out of the game.

The Iowa offense was rewarded with several second-chance opportunities with Vanderbeken on the bench with foul trouble. In the second half, though, with Vanderbeken on the floor, the ISU defense limited Iowa to just six second-chance points, after giving the Hawkeyes 13 in the first half.

“The past couple games I’ve been in foul trouble,” Vanderbeken said. “I just got to play smart. The team needs me out there for as much as I can do and just try to avoid getting those ticky-tacks.”

After the big man fouled out with 2:37 left, Iowa got as close as 70-68 before Christopherson hit his final three-pointer, pushing the Cyclones to the victory.

“It was a lot of fun to be out there tonight, although my pacemaker was working on overtime those last few minutes,” Hoiberg said after winning his first game over Iowa as the ISU head man.

With the loss, the Hawkeyes fall to 5-5 on the season, and have lost to the Cyclones in Carver-Hawkeye for the first time since 2002.

Iowa State now moves to 8-2 and finishes off a stretch of tough games, including close losses at the hands of Northern Iowa and a home loss to Cal. It was Iowa State’s first road win of the season.

The Cyclones next face Texas Southern at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday at Hilton Coliseum.

“We kind of grew up in these last two weeks,” Christopherson said. “Learned a couple of hard lessons last week and this is more of a fun lesson to learn.”