It was a tale of two halves Saturday for the ISU men’s basketball team as the Cyclones fell at Colorado 88-70, the Cyclones’ 18th consecutive conference loss on the road.

Iowa State managed just 29 points and 19 rebounds in the second half. The loss drops the Cyclones’ record to 10-3 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 play.

“We still need to win on the road, we still struggled, and we’ve got a lot of areas we still need to improve on,” junior center Jared Homan said Monday.

The first half of the game was more like a track meet than a basketball game, with eight lead changes in the first four and a half minutes of play.

“That’s the kind of style we wanted to play and they did a great job playing that style the whole game,” senior Jake Sullivan said. “We wanted it fast-paced, but they outpaced us.”

Iowa State led 24-17 with 12 minutes left before Blair Wilson hit three 3-pointers to put Colorado ahead 26-24. Sullivan hit his only three of the game with 8:38 left before two more Colorado threes gave the Buffaloes a 38-31 advantage.

Iowa State was able to close the gap and Colorado went into halftime with the 44-41 lead.

It was the first time this season that Iowa State trailed at the end of the first half.

The game remained close in the beginning of the second half. The Cyclones trailed 58-56 with just under 10 minutes remaining until the Buffaloes went on a 17-2 run during the next four minutes.

Iowa State never recovered.

The Cyclones shot 32.4 percent from the floor in the second half compared to Colorado’s 48.4 percent.

“We were struggling and they were hot. It’s very frustrating but that’s part of playing in the Big 12. There’s always going to be a game like that,” Sullivan said. “You just have to learn from that.”

Iowa State shot 37 percent from the floor for the game and 40 percent from the free-throw line, both season lows.

Senior Jackson Vroman led the team offensively with 20 points and pulled down 18 rebounds, his third double-double of the season. He also added four steals.

Freshman Will Blalock had 14 points, 12 of which came in the first half. Sullivan and freshman Curtis Stinson ended with 10 each.

“I think [Blalock and Stinson] handled themselves well,” Homan said.

“They didn’t have a breakout night like they have here at Hilton and nobody on our team did. We all played pretty average. Jackson had a really good game and everyone else played a little below par.”

Blair Wilson led the Buffaloes with 22 points with 6-10 shooting from behind the arc. Michel Morandais finished with 19 points and four blocks.

Center David Harrison had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Buffaloes.

Sullivan said the team has to be more focused on the road and come with more energy.

“They played extremely well and we didn’t,” Sullivan said. “There were a lot of things, [from] how we played defensively to how we played offensively. It’s just going to be a game that we have to move on from and be ready to go now.”

Iowa State now has to prepare to face in-state rival Iowa Wednesday night.

“Getting focused for Iowa isn’t too tough because it is a big rivalry,” Homan said.

“In-state is always a big deal and everybody in the state gets hyped for it so we just got to come ready to play.”