Daily Staff

After getting embarrassed by South Dakota State at home, the Iowa State men’s basketball team silenced its critics with a 71-67 on the road against Houston.

The Cyclones were helped out by sophomore forward Craig Brackins, who tallied a career-high 38 points on 15-of-23 shooting. He also contributed with 14 rebounds and 2 blocks. Brackins scored more than half of the team’s total points and had 26 more points than Diante Garrett – Iowa State’s second leading scorer.

Lucca Staiger’s 3-pointer with ten minutes left in the game gave Iowa State a 48-45 lead and the Cyclones held onto that lead for the remainder of the game.

Offensive rebounds aren’t usually something that the Cyclones rely on but their 13 offensive boards were a big reason they won the game.

Iowa State trailed 27-26 at halftime but its shots started to fall in the second half as they shot 57 percent in the second half after shooting only 33 percent in the first half.

Iowa State (8-4) won its second road game of the season while Houston (7-2) lost at home for the first time all season.

Iowa State returns home Wednesday to take on Mercer at 4 p.m.

–Corey Aldritt – Daily Staff Writer