Although the senior class is devoid of star players, seniors Bryan Petersen, Alex Thompson and Sean Haluska didn’t seem to care as they took over the game early and played well throughout Iowa State’s 78-76 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday.

On a night designed to honor the senior class, the seniors proved themselves worthy of the honor.

It didn’t take long for them to make their mark on their last game at Hilton Coliseum, as Petersen hit a 3-pointer just 18 seconds into the game to set the tone for his career-high 20-point performance, including 6-of-11 from downtown.

“Once I hit the first three I knew I was feeling it and I was just trying to hunt down my shot,” Pertersen said.

The rest of the seniors showed up as well with each of them hitting their first shot of the game, leading the Cyclones on a 16-4 run right off the bat.

In fact, the seniors collectively hit the first five shots they took before a Petersen three hit the rim and rattled out.

“I just felt a lot of energy coming into the game,” Thompson, who on Monday was named a starter for Wednesday’s game against Oklahoma, said. “Just the last time playing at Hilton, the fans, being with the coaches the last time, the teammates, especially the seniors, we just knew we were going to come out and play well.”

And they did play well, especially when they were on the floor together. During the 21:43 minutes that all three seniors were on the court, the Cyclones out-scored the Red Raiders by 16 points.

The fast start for the seniors was especially important, as star forward Craig Brackins struggled early in the game, missing six of his first seven.

“They had a plan for Craig, and because you have a plan for Craig, you know, Petey got a couple open threes right away and he knocks them down,” said head coach Greg McDermott. “Those are the same three’s that when our offense looks stagnant, don’t go in.”

But there was nothing stagnant about the ISU offense on Saturday as it scored a conference-high 78 points, seven points higher than its previous high against Baylor.

But it wasn’t just the offensive efforts the seniors gave that aided the Cyclones in their victory. McDermott said he was also impressed with their defensive effort, especially Haluska’s.

Haluska was matched up against Texas Tech’s leading scorer Alan Voskuil, who was coming off a 35 point performance against the regular season Big 12 Champions — Kansas. Haluska held Voskuil to three points on just five shots.

“He came here as a walk-on two years ago, and now he is defending one of the better guards in our league, a guard that Kansas had a really hard time defending,” McDermott said.

Although this year’s seniors have been through some rough times, they made sure they left Hilton Coliseum on a high note.

“Probably in a couple of days it will probably sink in, but I couldn’t ask for any better way to go out,” Haluska said. “It was pretty special.”

Iowa State plays Oklahoma State on Wednesday.