The ISU men’s basketball team gave a sold-out Hilton Coliseum exactly what it was looking for Friday night: a win over in-state rival Iowa and a victory in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series.

The Cyclones downed the Hawkeyes, 72-60, leading by as much as 20 in the second half, and finished 3-0 against in-state foes Iowa, Drake and Northern Iowa.

“I’m really proud of our kids and how hard they played tonight,” said coach Wayne Morgan. “From the opening bell to the end, everyone gave everything they could.”

It was Iowa State’s Jiri Hubalek who carried the Cyclones from the start, scoring Iowa State’s first six points. Hubalek finished the first half with nine points and a team-high nine rebounds.

“I thought Jiri Hubalek was spectacular in the first half,” Morgan said. “He was just really, really good.”

Hubalek finished with 13 points, but it was his eight rebounds – an area he had been criticized for coming in to the game – that really lifted the Cyclones past the Hawkeyes.

“I had trouble in the first couple games to grab as many rebounds as I should as a big guy,” Hubalek said. “I’ve really been trying to work on that part of my game.”

Hubalek said a big reason for his outstanding play was the raucous crowd. The sold-out crowd was loud throughout, making itself heard with a chorus of boos when former Cyclone and current Hawkeye Adam Haluska touched the ball.

“I was looking forward to this game for a long time,” Hubalek said. “It was amazing to play in front of this crowd in this environment. Part of it was probably the fans. That’s what I like to do is play for a full house; it really gets you going.”

The crowd factor didn’t seem to faze Haluska, as he led Iowa with 16 points; however, he was 0-for-4 from 3-point range, an area in which Iowa struggled all night.

“I thought [Haluska] did great,” Iowa coach Steve Alford said. “He forced a couple shots, but I thought he did what he needed to do. It’s not an easy situation.”

The biggest factor in the game, though, was inside play. Hawkeye standout Greg Brunner was held to just 2-of-8 shooting and 11 rebounds by a tough effort by the much-maligned ISU frontcourt.

“[Brunner] is a great – he’s not good or pretty good – he is a great college basketball player,” Morgan said. “He is really something special and we had to put forth a great effort to stop him. Think of all the effort we put into it, and he still got 11 [points] and 12 [rebounds].

“I think our young guys are starting to understand how hard and physical it is. You have to be strong mentally and be able to hold your ground. I don’t care if you can only bench 100 pounds. You’ve got to be mentally strong.”

Iowa was without guard Jeff Horner, who had started 101 of the last 102 games for the Hawkeyes, which made it that much more important for the Cyclones to focus on stopping Brunner.

“We did a really poor job inside,” Alford said. “If you look at [the first] half, I thought [Brunner] and Erek [Hansen] and Doug [Thomas] really got outplayed. The second half was a little bit different, but I thought it was really won or lost there in the first half.”

Tony Freeman, who replaced Horner in the starting lineup, was held to just eight points, although Alford liked his effort.

“This is a very difficult game to break in guard play, especially with the guards that they have,” Alford said. “I think that’s probably the difference in the game. I thought Tony [Freeman] really fought and that’s a tough game for him to get broken into in his 10th game of his freshman year.”

Iowa State led by five at halftime, but scored the first seven points of the second half to build a 12-point cushion. Then, after a Freeman jumper with 9:30 to play, Iowa State went on a 9-0 run to lead by 20 at 61-41, putting the game out of reach.

“I just told the guys in the locker room, ‘Let’s throw the first punch,’ and it was a knockout punch; nobody got up from that,” ISU guard Curtis Stinson said.

“You don’t want to keep the game tight down the stretch – especially with a rival team – because you don’t know what can happen.”

The game was just another piece of the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series, which Iowa State clinched victory in with the win Friday night. Iowa won the inaugural series last year 13-8.

“[The rivalry’s] great,” Stinson said. “Every year it’s a great game.

“They’ve got a good team over there and my hat’s off to them, but, hey, we have to win sometimes, too.”

Iowa State will next see action against Ohio State at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines for the Mediacom Cyclone Capital Classic on Dec. 17.

“Iowa State are champions in the state of Iowa,” Morgan said. “Period.”