Once again the ISU men’s basketball team will have to settle for a moral victory, as it hung close before bowing out to No. 18 Kansas (21-5) 72-55 on Wednesday in Lawrence, Kan. The Cyclones (13-13) trailed by as many as 17 in the first half but climbed back to within five midway through the second half.

After scoring 42 points in the first meeting, Craig Brackins came back down to Earth with 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Cyclones. Iowa State also got a huge boost off the bench from Jamie Vanderbeken who had a career-high 15 points, making 5-of-9 3-pointers.

In the end, the one-two punch of the Jayhawks proved too much for the visitors. Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins scored 22 apiece.

Collins made three 3-pointers in the final 13-5 run that ended the game. He also averaged 24 points-per-game in the two contests against Iowa State this season.

Kansas jumped out to a 16-2 lead to start the game and kept Iowa State at an arms length for the rest of the half.

After pushing the lead to 30-13, Iowa State used a 12-6 run to trail by only 11 at the half.

In the second half, the Cyclones got as close as five points when they got the game to 43-38, but 10 straight Jayhawks points pushed the lead to 15 and the game was essentially over.

Brackins and Bryan Peterson were the only two Iowa State starters to score over five points.

Diante Garrett had four points and Lucca Staiger and Justin Hamilton both failed to score.

On the flip side, Kansas starters scored 61 points in comparison to 35 points scored by the Cyclone starters.

The loss continued all of Iowa State’s losing streaks, which includes: 13 consecutive losses to ranked opponents, 14-straight Big 12 road losses and eight straight losses to Kansas.

Of the 122 points scored against Kansas this season by Iowa State, Craig Brackins scored an impressive 62 of them.