Taking a break from Big 12 Conference action, the ISU men’s basketball team shook off cold shooting and a slow start to defeat Northern Colorado 89-63 Monday.

The Bears came out firing, hitting seven 3-pointers in the first half, led by Michael Frazier who was 5-of-5 from behind the arc and ended the half with 17 points.

“They obviously shot the ball very well initially, shooting 7-of-8 from the 3-point line, and I thought that was good,” head coach Wayne Morgan said. “It made us play a little harder and a little bit better on defense, it helped kick us in gear.”

Morgan said he hoped the team would start the game flat rather than overconfident.

“I don’t think we’re a good enough team to be overconfident against anybody,” he said.

“When we’re playing hard and playing together, and everybody is concentrating on each other as a unit, then we’re a pretty good team.”

Coming off a 89-74 win over Nebraska Saturday, Iowa State’s shots weren’t dropping against Northern Colorado. The Cyclones fell behind 23-10 before a Jake Sullivan three started the Cyclone comeback run.

“They executed extremely well and hit their shots to start the game,” Sullivan said.

“Hats off to them, they played great, and luckily we were able to pull away in that second half.”

Iowa State went on a 16-0 run and held the Bears scoreless for five minutes. The Cyclones took the lead following a Jared Homan put-back.

Homan said the team didn’t get nervous when it fell behind early but was more frustrated and angry that they weren’t playing hard.

“I think all of us in our minds knew we could come back and win that game,” Homan said. “We were so frustrated we weren’t hitting shots, we weren’t playing hard, and we got that corrected at halftime.”

Iowa State picked up in the second half where it left off, scoring 20 points in the first eight minutes on a 20-9 run to increase its lead to 64-46.

The win improved Iowa State’s record to 10-2 and dropped Northern Colorado to 3-14.

The Cyclones controlled the boards, outrebounding the Bears 46-26. Homan led the Cyclones with 14.

Defensively, Homan swatted five blocks for the Cyclones.

Frazier ended the game with 25 points for Northern Colorado on 8-of-15 shooting, including 7-of-12 from 3-point range.

Iowa State returns to Big 12 play Saturday when it travels to Boulder, Colo., to face the Colorado Buffaloes.