Behind a career night from Rahshon Clark, the ISU men’s basketball team defeated Drake, 89-74.

Clark’s 26 points broke his career high of 20, which he set in the first round of last year’s Big 12 tournament against Baylor. His five three-pointers were also a career high.

“Clark was great,” said ISU coach Wayne Morgan. “He was good in and around the basket, and then he shot the ball better. He had five threes, so there you have it. That’s why he was effective.”

Clark capped his scoring with 2:01 to play in the game on a 4-point play.

“I came in the game feeling like I was going to have a good game,” Clark said. “We came out with the mentality that ‘We’re not losing.'”

Drake coach Tom Davis said the talent of the ISU guards may have opened the floor for Clark to have a big night.

“When you’ve got good talented guys, they can go different ways to beat you,” Davis said. “I thought their guards did a good job opening up opportunities for others.”

Iowa State also had a big night from behind the arc, knocking down 11 triples on 23 tries. The Cyclones had just 29 three-pointers in 97 attempts coming into the game.

“[Having a perimeter game] is huge,” Clark said. “You want other teams to know that you have another step to your game.”

The mere presence of an outside game was enough to encourage the Cyclones, but it was especially big when John Neal connected on back-to-back attempts in the first half. Those were Neal’s first two three-pointers of the season.

“Neal’s two threes in the first half were huge,” Morgan said. “They gave us a cushion when we needed it.”

Drake had a career night from Ajay Calvin, who had 22 points, besting his previous record by six before fouling out with 1:06 to play. It wasn’t enough, however, as Iowa State built a double-digit lead in the second half and ran and hid from the Bulldogs.

“I thought Ajay played really hard,” Davis said. “He’s showing that, day in and day out, he can be a good player.”

Curtis Stinson fouled out of the game with 2:17 left to play, but not before adding 20 points and nine assists.

Fouls were a big problem for the Cyclones on the night. Anthony Davis picked up two in the first minute of play, limiting him to just 2 points in 20 minutes.

Iowa State picked up its first six fouls of the game inside the first eight minutes, putting Drake in the bonus for the final 12:38 of the first-half.

Despite the Cyclones’ 26 fouls, Drake shot just 62 percent (21 of 34) from the charity stripe.

“Free throws in the early going and we missed some easy shots,” Davis said. “We had some young guys and that was their first time around.”

Will Blalock and Jiri Hubalek both tallied double figures for the Cyclones with 19 and 14 points respectively.

Iowa State next takes the floor against Iowa on Friday night.