Wayne Morgan “floated” off the court, and a season-high crowd of 13,686 breathed a sigh of relief, as the ISU men’s basketball team exorcised its Big 12 Conference demons and defeated No. 13 Oklahoma 74-66 on Saturday.

“I’m very happy we won, elated for my guys,” Morgan said “It gives us a big lift. We’ve come close a lot and now we’re learning how to finish.”

Iowa State (9-8, 1-5 Big 12) took the lead with 13:38 left in the first half and never looked back, taking a 30-25 lead into halftime.

In the first four minutes of the second half, Iowa State had four steals en route to building a 15-point lead. Its lead quickly vanished to four, though, behind Lawrence McKenzie’s barrage of 3-pointers.

The Cyclones responded, and finished the last 2:35 of the game by going 9 of 18 from the free throw line to hold off Oklahoma 74-66 and win their first conference game of the season.

The win is Iowa State’s first since defeating Tennessee State on Dec. 31.

Oklahoma (16-3, 5-1 Big 12) hadn’t lost since falling to Duke on Dec. 18.

Senior center Jared Homan, who finished with 14 points, said it was a good win to get the team back on track.

“It’s a huge success for us, but it’s one game,” Homan said.

“We want to put a string of four to five wins together.”

Freshman Tasheed Carr said the team stuck together through the six-game losing streak.

“All along, we never gave up on ourselves,” Carr said. “Coach is very happy for us. He never gave up on us. He continued to preach family to us, and he was really happy at the end.”

The biggest difference in the game was turnovers.

Iowa State committed only eight to Oklahoma’s 18. Thirteen of those were Cyclone steals.

Iowa State recorded 22 points off turnovers.

“I thought our defense was incredible. It took away what it needed to take away from them,” Morgan said. “I thought maybe only six mistakes for the whole game defensively.”

The Cyclones held Oklahoma’s Kevin Bookout to 12 points; Taj Gray led the Sooners with 21. McKenzie ended with 15 points, all in the second half on 5-of-9 shooting from behind the arc.

The Cyclones finished the game 0 for 6 from the 3-point line, but scored 48 points in the paint, much of that because of their fastbreaks.

“Our defense helps us,” Morgan said. “When we make them miss it, it gives us an opportunity to get out and run, which is what we do best.”

Curtis Stinson led all scorers with 23 points, but a big factor was the play of freshmen Rahshon Clark and Carr, who finished with 10 and nine points, respectively.

“I thought Tasheed Carr was outstanding tonight, and I thought Rahshon Clark was outstanding tonight,” Morgan said. “They’re like young colts; when they grow up, they’re going to be special.”

Carr’s nine points off the bench were much needed for Iowa State, which is a team that lacks depth after the dismissal of Reggie George, a lengthy academic appeal for Robert Faulkner and a shoulder injury for Anthony Davis.

“We don’t have too much depth, so anytime someone can come off the bench and contribute is a real plus for us,” Carr said.

Homan said the game was the team’s best showing of bench contributions.

“We didn’t have one guy come into the game that didn’t contribute somehow, some way,” Homan said. “That’s a big factor for us.”

Iowa State returns to Big 12 action at home on Tuesday against Baylor.