Inspired by a fiery showing from coach Greg McDermott and a comeback from 20 points down in the first half, the Cyclones still weren’t able to overcome a 31-point showing from Oklahoma State’s Obi Muonelo, and fell to the Cowboys 69–64.

Iowa State (13–13) overcame a 36–16 deficit in the first half, and even took a lead with just under 12 minutes left in the game, but Muonelo was too much to handle in front of a rowdy crowd at Hilton Coliseum. The 6-foot-5-inch Cowboy guard was 10-for-19 from the field, and knocked down six three-pointers, overshadowing Cyclone guard Scott Christopherson’s career-high 19 points.

“Start of the game was a joke,” said McDermott post-game, almost inaudibly. “That’s all there is to it. It’s my job to get these guys ready and obviously they weren’t ready.”

The Cyclones made things interesting with the crowd on their feet in the last minute of the ball game, closing the lead down to 67–64, and getting a shot with under 30 seconds left to tie from Christopherson, but the three point attempt rimmed out.

“Felt perfect, thought it was good. It just came up a little short,” Christopherson said.

The sophomore guard continues to battle through mononucleosis, and his four three-pointers kept the Cyclones close.

“I don’t want to be sick, so I’m not going to tell myself that I’m sick,” Christopherson said. “Am I 100-percent? No — everybody is a little fatigued, everybody’s knees hurt, everybody’s body aches, so as far as I’m concerned I’m like everybody else.”

On the inbound pass, freshman Chris Colvin missed a streaking Craig Brackins and the ball rolled out of bounds. McDermott covered his face, and the Cowboys closed out the contest from there.

“It was open,” McDermott said. “I didn’t get a good enough look at it to see if it was a tough pass to catch or if Craig should have had it. They executed the play perfectly. Craig was going to have a look at it to tie — it just didn’t work out.”

Struggling against a zone defense early in the game, Iowa State eventually slowed down the Big 12’s leading scorer, James Anderson, who had 15 points in the first half and was held to five in the second period. It was that kind of night for shooters on the floor, and even ISU forward Craig Brackins, after leading the Cyclones in points in four out their last five games, struggled to a 3-for-17 night from the floor.

“It’s just going to be tough when Marquis [Gilstrap] and Craig go 5-of-27,” McDermott said. “Those are two guys we really count on, and giving them 27 shots is what we need to do. Tonight, unfortunately, they didn’t get into the hole.”

McDermott’s crew showed they were more than seven men deep on Wednesday, with freshman Alex Dorr getting a bit of playing time in relief of the benched LaRon Dendy, but with four players logging more than 30 minutes on the score sheet, Oklahoma State’s guard-heavy line-up wore out the Cyclones.

“I didn’t feel like we practiced with quite as much focus and energy the last few days — there’s no excuse for it,” McDermott said. “We certainly have shown at times what we’re capable of, it’s just not consistent,”

Center Justin Hamilton played another solid game for the Cyclones, and even though his foul trouble put him on the bench for extended periods of time, the sophomore finished with 11 points and nine boards.

“I felt like we didn’t have the focus that we needed to have. It was really tough, we were lucky to fight back,” Hamilton said. 

Iowa State has now dropped five straight in conference play, dropping to seven games under .500 in conference play. Texas A&M comes to Hilton Coliseum on Saturday, as the Cyclones try to right the ship at 3 p.m.