BOULDER, Colo. — With Colorado trailing and in a rut, guard Cory Higgins knew something had to change.

The junior guard got aggressive and it was exactly what the Buffaloes needed to get a difficult conference win.

Higgins scored a season-high 33 points, 21 in the second half, to lead Colorado over Iowa State 75–72 in a battle between Big 12 also-rans Saturday.

Marquis Gilstrap scored 26 points for the Cyclones (14–15, 3–11 Big 12), who have lost 10 of their last 12 games.

Higgins was nearly perfect on the day, hitting 12-of-15 shots and all six of his free throws.

“I started out just trying to attack the basket, but when I got things going my shot felt good,” he said.

Higgins’ previous season high was 30 against Kansas State on Jan. 16, and he was one point short of his career high set against Texas on Feb. 14, 2009. He moved into 12th place on Colorado’s all-time scoring with 1,324 points.

With Colorado (13–15, 4–10) trailing 46–40 with 16 minutes left, Higgins scored 15 of the Buffaloes’ next 17 points to give them a 57–55 lead with 7:20 left. He hit two 3-pointers in the stretch, and he finished it with a baseline drive past 6-foot-9-inch LaRon Dendy.

“We were starting to get a little stagnant on offense,” Higgins said. “I wasn’t just trying to score, I was trying to attack and maybe open things up for other people. We needed to be more aggressive.”

The rest of the team got the message. Casey Crawford scored all 10 of his points in the second half, including two 3-pointers and a putback layup to extend Colorado’s lead to 65–61 with 2:28 left.

“He was the difference in the game,” ISU coach Greg McDermott said of Crawford. “You’re trying to provide help on some of their back cuts and trying to make it difficult for [Alec] Burks and Higgins as much as you can. You have to give up something and Casey Crawford really made us pay.”

Gilstrap kept the Cyclones close with a pair of buckets, and Justin Hamilton’s three-point play with 54 seconds left cut their deficit 71–70. But Colorado hit six free throws in the final 1:16 to seal the win.

Diante Garrett missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied it.

“We scrapped our way to a great win for us,” Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “The more you make [free throws] in these kinds of situation the confidence grows.

“I think that this team needs to learn how to win, and I think that this is a big step toward that.”

The Cyclones rallied from an early deficit to take a 38–36 lead at halftime.

Gilstrap led Iowa State with 12 first-half points, and Higgins and Marcus Relphorde had 12 each for Colorado.

For the game, Colorado hit all 12 of its free throws while Iowa State was 12-of-21 from the line.

“In the first half free throws were a real big part of it. They made their free throws and we didn’t,” Gilstrap said.