Let the new era of ISU men’s basketball begin. Fans got their first glimpse of Iowa State’s new uptempo offense that saw breakaway lay-ups, dunks, quick touch passes and hard-cutting drives to the basket.

“We’re a different team; we’re not the team we were last year,” ISU coach Wayne Morgan said. “We have to do different things and we will.”

Iowa State never trailed. The Cyclones extended their lead to 19 with 27 seconds left in the first half, taking a 45-28 lead into the break.

“I though our zone defense was pretty good,” Morgan said. “Our man-to-man in the first half gave them some trouble. We have some more stuff to work on.”

Sophomore Will Blalock finished the first half with 13 points.

“Will Blalock was excellent tonight,” Morgan said. “He led the team. He scored when he needed to. He stayed aggressive offensively, which was a point of emphasis for us.”

Defense was big for the Cyclones in the first half, as they held the Beavers to 33.3 percent shooting.

Iowa State also came up with six blocks and seven steals.

Newcomer Anthony Davis jumped right into the mix, finishing 5 for 7 from the floor and 3 for 4 from the free throw line for 13 points — all in the second half.

Freshman Rahshon Clark finished with nine points and three rebounds. He also added two blocks.

“It’s good in a way, because we finally got to play against other people instead of just playing against ourselves,” Clark said.

Morgan said he likes the newcomers and said they played well.

“The thing our newcomers have to do is to understand our system and fit into it,” Morgan said.

In the second half, Bemidji State cut the lead to seven with just under 17 minutes left, but the Cyclones answered right back, holding the Beavers to only three points the next 11 minutes en route to a 23-point lead.

Derrick Beechum led the Beavers with 16 points.

“I thought that we played real hard tonight,” Morgan said. “We tried to play together, play unselfishly.”

The backbone of the offense was the backcourt, scoring 36 points in the first half and 25 in the second.

It was led by Stinson and Blalock, who each finished with 14 points. Stinson led the Cyclones in rebounding and assists with nine and eight, respectively.

Senior Jared Homan added nine points, six rebounds and three blocks for Iowa State.

“I thought Jared played very, very hard,” Morgan said. “He stuck his nose in there and mixed it up. He’s our guy in our frontcourt.”

Sophomore Reggie George didn’t play because he is rehabilitating a back injury, Morgan said.

“Reggie George has had a back problem all year,” Morgan said. “We’re going to keep working with that back problem until he can play.”

Up next for Iowa State in its final exhibition game Monday are the EA Sports All-Stars.