In what was certainly his last game in Hilton Coliseum, Jake Sullivan gave the soldout crowd exactly what it wanted.

Powered by the senior guard’s game-high 22 points, the ISU men’s basketball team downed Marquette 77-69 in Thursday’s National Invitation Tournament quarterfinal.

Half of Sullivan’s points came on 11-of-12 shooting from the foul line.

The win earned Iowa State a trip to Madison Square Garden in New York for the NIT final four, where it will take on Rutgers at either 6 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets are available at www.nit.org.

Iowa State came out slow to start the game, making only four shots in the first 12 minutes until a 3-pointer by Sullivan pulled Iowa State within one and woke up the Cyclones and the capacity Hilton crowd.

The next two points were again from Sullivan on two made free throws that gave Iowa State its first lead of the game 25-24.

The Cyclones kept a slim lead for the rest of the half until Curtis Stinson was fouled on a layup with 0.1 seconds remaining.

His free throw gave the Cyclones a 34-28 lead to take into halftime, despite shooting only 38.5 percent as a team.

Marquette’s first half performance was even worse, as it shot only 33 percent in the first half.

“I give Marquette credit, it’s a class team,” ISU head coach Wayne Morgan said.

“These guys fought to the very last tick of the clock,” he said.

The Cyclones came out guns-a-blazing to start the second half, extending their lead to as much as 14 points in the opening minutes of the half.

Marquette was in trouble early in the second half as two of its leading scorers, Travis Diener and Scott Merritt, had to sit down with four fouls with more than 13 minutes still remaining.

The Cyclones dominated the rest of the half, claiming a double-digit lead for most of the way.

A late rally by the Golden Eagles brought them within seven, but a fast-break dunk by Marcus Jefferson in the closing seconds sealed the victory for the Cyclones.

“All I can say is we’re really happy and really elated to take our team to New York and Madison Square Garden,” Morgan said.

“That’s a great win for our program, a great win for our league.”

Iowa State is one of 16 men’s teams left playing after four Sweet Sixteen teams were eliminated from the NCAA tournament Thursday.

Stinson and Jackson Vroman were the other two Cyclones to score in double figures, pouring in 20 and 14 points, respectively.

Both players had double-doubles as Vroman grabbed 12 rebounds and Stinson ripped down 10.

Diener led Marquette with 17 points and Joe Chapman and Dameon Mason scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Rebounds were a key factor in the Cyclone victory as Iowa State outrebounded Marquette 42-33.

Should the Cyclones beat Rutgers in Tuesday’s semifinal game, the winner of the Oregon-Michigan semifinal game will wait for Iowa State in the NIT championship game, which is Thursday.

The victory was Iowa State’s 20th of the season, which means a windfall for Morgan. His contract stipulates that a 20-win season in his first year as ISU head coach extends his four-year contract by three years and raises his compensation to $800,000 from the 2006-07 season on. Morgan’s current contract pays $500,000 a year.

This correction was printed on April 5, 2004: Due to an editing error, the March 26 article “New York, New York” incorrectly stated ISU head men’s basketball coach Wayne Morgan’s salary had increased because of the team’s 20th win of the season. That provision of Morgan’s contract only deals with regular-season and Big 12 Conference tournament games. The Daily regrets the error.