It didn’t take long for senior center Jackson Vroman to get his groove back as he poured in a team-high 18 points in Iowa State’s 79-76 win over Northern Iowa Sunday.

In his first game of the season, Vroman also led the Cyclones in assists and rebounds with four and nine, respectively.

Vroman said he’s just glad to be back on the court after being suspended for drunken driving charges in October.

“I felt a lot of remorse, it was a tough situation to be in,” Vroman said. “Now I’m just happy to be back and happy to get a win.”

“[Vroman] was great,” said ISU head coach Wayne Morgan. “Had he been suspended tonight, we might have been in a whole heap of trouble.”

Morgan’s words were quite true as the Cyclone’s narrowly pulled out a squeaker, with Northern Iowa’s Erik Crawford missing a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“They did everything except win the game. They gave us all we could handle,” Morgan said.

The Cyclones led most of the game, but never by more than 10 points, thanks to stingy defense and great rebounding by the Panthers, who won the rebounding battle 40-32.

The Panthers took their only lead of the second half with 7:54 remaining, going up 58-57 and gaining momentum. Led by key baskets from Vroman, Iowa State answered back with a 15-4 run that put the Cyclones ahead for good.

“You don’t want to be in that position, but it’s nice to see that when you’re pushed to the limit, guys will step up and make plays when we needed them,” Vroman said.

Although the Cyclones nearly squandered a 72-62 lead with 3:57 left, Morgan said nailbiters can be good for a team.

“It’s good to have a game like that that’s close and hard,” Morgan said. “It brings the team closer together.”

Other leading scorers for the Cyclones included Curtis Stinson with 12 points, Jake Sullivan with 11 and Will Blalock and Jared Homan with 10 apiece.

After breaking the ISU career 3-pointers record Friday against Mercer, Sullivan was held scoreless from behind the arc Sunday, but played well on defense. Panther standout guard Ben Jacobson had 12 points in the first half but was held to only three in the second by Sullivan.

“I thought guarding Jacobson in the second half would be key, so that’s what I tried to do,” Sullivan said.

Other Panthers in double figures included David Gruber with 11 and Matt Schneiderman with a game-high 22 points. The 6-foot-7 Schneiderman was a terrific 9-of-13 from the floor and showed surprising range, hitting 3 of 6 3-pointers.

Although many expected the Cyclones to beat Northern Iowa by more than three points, Sullivan said the Panthers are better than most think.

“They’re a good team, they’ve got a lot of guys back and a lot of experience,” Sullivan said. “I’d actually be surprised if they didn’t win their league.”

The win moved Iowa State to 2-0 on the season, while Northern Iowa fell to 1-2.

Morgan said he was encouraged by his team’s toughness in a tight game, especially since two of Iowa State’s starters in the backcourt are true freshmen.

“Late in the second half, when we were down, our kids made the plays when they needed to,” he said.