Dodie Dunson’s last second three-point attempt perfectly summed up Iowa State’s game against Drake:

Just too little, too late.

Iowa State’s furious comeback came up just short, with the Cyclones falling 80-78.

Down 10 points with less than five minutes to play, the Cyclones came roaring back, going on a 12-2 run to tie the game at 78 with 16 seconds to play.

But the Cyclones let Drake guard Al Stewart drive the length of the floor and to the basket, putting the Bulldogs back up by two. Stewart beat the ISU defense down the floor for his only basket of the game, getting to the hole before the Cyclones could get set up.

“We liked the option of attacking before they could get their defense set,” said Drake head coach Tom Davis. “We got our screeners up in good position and Al moved and ran the play. He didn’t allow them to get set. It was pretty good execution.”ÿ

Iowa State had 4.4 seconds to make a final shot. Mike Taylor took the inbound pass and pushed the ball to the other side of the court. Taylor passed on the shot, passing to Dunson.

A Drake defender was in front of Dunson, who dribbled once to the left to create space for his shot. Dunson’s shot was good from the second it left his hand: a 3-pointer that would have won the game for the Cyclones.

But Dunson let the shot go just a moment too late, time expiring before the ball left his hand.

“It’s up to Mike,” said ISU coach Greg McDermott. “He has to shoot that ball. You have to count in your head and you have to at least throw it up at the rim to give yourself a chance before the horn goes off.

“It’s a situation I hope we’ll learn from and if we’re in this situation again, we’ll execute a little better.”

The loss moves Iowa State to 6-2 this season, with another test directly on the horizon. The team’s next game comes Friday in Iowa City where it will face its biggest rival, the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Dunson was one of five Cyclones who scored in double figures. His 16 points were a career high, along with career nights from Wesley Johnson (16 points) and Corey McIntosh (10).

Johnson also had 10 rebounds, his third double-double in just eight games.

Although the Cyclones played well offensively, they had troubles on the defensive end.

Drake shot 47 percent from the field for the game, led by Ajay Calvin’s 22.

Freshman Josh Young scored 18 points, hitting four 3-pointers in his first ISU-Drake game.

“It’s a good feeling to get a win on the road,” Davis said. “This is an Iowa State team that is only going to get better.”

This was Drake’s first win in Hilton Coliseum since Dec. 4, 1978. With an active Des Moines summer league, both coaches said the Cyclone uniform doesn’t mean much anymore.

“There’s not an intimidation factor like there once was,” McDermott said. “We were the beneficiaries of that when I was with Northern Iowa when we played against Iowa. The guys played together all summer and it wasn’t any big deal that they had a jersey on that had Big Ten on it.

“It’s very similar in Drake’s case. They know all our guys and they know how we play and our guys have a feel for what they do as well.”