As Hilton Coliseum was seemingly frozen shut on Wednesday night, the energy inside the building helped spark the Cyclones to victory.

In a game that shifted momentum like Iowa weather, Craig Brackins and the Cyclone offense refused to lose, and Iowa State came out with a close victory over a pesky Nebraska team 65-53.

“The final two minutes were intense, we turned the ball over and they were coming back, so I think we did a good job of handling the pressure towards the end, and put one away,” Brackins said.

Iowa State’s growing penchant for close games with the Nebraska Cornhuskers has created excitement at Hilton for the last two seasons, and the conference home opener was no different.

With Nebraska coming into the match-up ranked third in the nation in turnover margin and second in scoring defense, Iowa State needed to play a clean game with strong passing, and a healthy scoring hand over the undersized Husker front court.

“Going into the game … Nebraska scores nearly 30 percent of their points off turnovers, and probably another 20 percent off the free throw line, so those were the two things we really set out to accomplish,” coach Greg McDermott said.

With a win against Missouri last weekend, Nebraska was expected to be a tough, ugly out, and it proved to be difficult to control any tempo in Iowa State’s favor in the second half. Nebraska switched to a full court press to start the half, and the Cyclones struggled to find points..

“We just said that we can’t let this go, and we just gotta stay with it, stay aggressive but patient like we were, and we’ll be fine,” Brackins said.

A string of big plays from the Cyclones near the five minute mark of the second half spurred the team onto momentum that wasn’t lost for the remainder of the game. A Lucca Staiger three pointer, followed by a technical foul on Nebraska forward Ryan Anderson , followed by a close tip-in by Alex Thompson , got the crowd jumping and back into the game after dreary drives and missed jump shots. Brackins’ late dunk off a broken play in transition and Sean Haluska’s three pointer on the next drive helped close out the game for ISU with 1:11 left.

Brackins paced the Cyclones with 21 points and 12 rebounds, and fan-hero Staiger finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, with all of his points coming from three point range.

“It’s just fun out there,” Staiger said after saying he felt his knee was around 95 percent. “If anything, I think [Lucca]’s, turning down a few open threes, trying to be too unselfish at times when he’s got the shot,” McDermott said.

An early 10 turnovers in the first 11 minutes of the second half kept the game tight, as Nebraska slowly whittled away the Cyclone lead to single digits. Points became hard to come by for the Cyclones, and the 13-2 run Nebraska went on closed the gap much tighter than Cyclone fans liked.

Thankfully, whenever Iowa state needed a momentum shift, the front court and Brackins provided the much needed points in the paint.

“I was pleased with the way the guys played the last six or seven minutes,” McDermott said. “I was down to one timeout, they kind of had to just play because I wasn’t going to burn that timeout in case we needed it for a late game situation. They had to play through some tough stretches there but were able to come out with the victory.”

Iowa State didn’t dominate, but held a strong lead over Nebraska for the first 15 minutes of the ball game, from early three-pointers from Big 12 Rookie of the Week Staiger, and the shooting ineptitude of the Cornhuskers. The first half saw Nebraska shooting 8-31 from the field, including a seven minute drought from the field, which contributed to Iowa State’s 20 first half defense rebounds.

Brackins’ old fashioned three pointer gave the Cyclones momentum against a bothersome Husker defense early on, and Jamie Vanderbeken’s deep treys boosted morale. Iowa State felt the pressure as the first half went on however, as the team’s field goal percentage fell from 56 percent at the six-minute mark, to under 40 percent in the last minute of the half. A three pointer by Bryan Petersen with one second on the clock helped give the Cyclones a double digit lead going to halftime.

The 32-20 halftime score resembled a typical first half for the Huskers, boasting the No. 2 scoring defense in the nation, and the slow, plodding fashion kept the game lacking any spark or transition plays. Iowa State kept control of the ball, with only five turnovers in the first half, well under Nebraska’s preferred trend which is forcing 18 a game. Both teams only registered five total fouls in the first half.

McDermott addressed the team’s issue against the full court press into the second half, and even though he was proud of the victory, he mentioned some fixes for the ball club.

“Our decisions were not as good the second half, our cuts weren’t quite as quick as they needed to be. They turned us over and were able to get back in the game as a result of that,” McDermott said.

The Cyclones victory over Nebraska was the 100th in the series, and ends the team’s seven game conference losing streak. Iowa State takes on Missouri in Columbia on Saturday for another Big 12 match-up.