In a game that proved to be a tale of two halves, Iowa State (2-3) came up just short against coach Greg McDermott’s former team, falling 61-48 to the University of Northern Iowa Panthers (5-1) Tuesday night at Hilton Coliseum.

The first half saw Iowa State’s freshman standout Craig Brackins, who entered the game leading the team at 14.8 points per game, get into early foul trouble. Brackins committed two early fouls, consequently limiting his playing time to just five minutes in the first half.

Coach McDermott said Brackins’ early fouls were a disappointment and something that really affected the way Brackins played for the remainder of the game.

“Number one, we need him on the floor because of the other things he does,” McDermott said. “But, number two, it sent him into a tailspin all night that we really couldn’t get him out of.”

Coming out of the locker room trailing 31-26, Brackins scored the first basket of the second half for Iowa State, but that was all he would get on a night when he finished with just two points on 1-for-9 shooting from the floor.

The story in the second half was that of UNI senior guard Jared Josten. Josten, a native of Webster City who played for McDermott during his first two seasons at UNI, led all scorers with 20 points, 18 of which came in the second half.

Panthers coach Ben Jacobson said Josten, who had no turnovers in 34 minutes against the Cyclones, played a much better game this time out than in their last game, a 61-55 loss to South Dakota State.

“Coming off of Friday’s game, Jared didn’t play as well as Jared wants to play. I’ve said it before: Jared has got as much pride as anybody I’ve coached,” Jacobson said. “He takes that awfully personal and he bounced back tonight and played a good basketball game.”

With the temperature outside a frigid 25 degrees, the Cyclones were just as cold with their shooting, making only 27.3 percent of their shots in the second half and 32.8 percent in the game – a new season low.

The only players who seemed to be able to find their shots were Wesley Johnson and Rahshon Clark, who combined for 12 of 22 from the floor. Johnson saw his first action of the season in the game, playing 35 minutes and leading the Cyclones with 18 points including 4 of 8 from downtown.

“I just wanted to get back out there and contribute the best I could,” said Johnson, who was welcomed with a warm uproar from the Hilton Coliseum crowd as his name was read as one of the starting five.

McDermott said having Johnson back definitely had a positive impact on his team.

“The way we started the two halves, I don’t think we start like that without Wesley,” he said. “We’ve got to have him rebound better, but he limped for part of the night. No way would I have ever thought that he would play that many minutes.”

Next up for the Cyclones is a road test against Oregon State (3-2) on Friday night. The game is part of the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series and will be televised on Fox Sports Net.