Iowa freshman Jeff Horner nailed a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left and Brody Boyd made a free-throw with 15 ticks on the clock as the Hawkeyes knocked off Iowa State 54-53 in the first round of the NIT on Friday night.

The Cyclones (17-14) came back to take a three-point lead with 1:13 remaining, but Horner’s three on an out-of-bounds play — with the shot clock winding down — knotted the score.

“I got kind of mad there when they tied it up towards the end,” Horner said. “I had it in my mind that I wanted the shot.”

Iowa State’s Jackson Vroman was fouled on the next possession with 20 seconds left, but missed both free throws and fouled Boyd. A 70.5 percent career free-throw shooter, Boyd swished the first, but missed the second.

Tim Barnes missed on the other end for Iowa State and Sean Sonderleiter was fouled with 6.2 seconds left. He missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and Barnes raced down court to try for the game-winner, but his fall-away shot was off the mark.

ISU head coach Larry Eustachy said he didn’t take a time out after the miss by Sonderleiter because Iowa would have had a chance to set up a press defense.

“Our plan was to get it in Tim’s hands and in six seconds, you know he can get down there real quick,” Eustachy said. “It just didn’t work out.”

The 6-foot Barnes was forced into a tough shot after being met by Horner and the 6-foot-9 Sonderleiter. At least one referee was adamantly waving off the shot before it reached the rim.

“I was just going down there and trying to make something happen,” Barnes said. “It didn’t work out that way.”

The starting backcourt — Jake Sullivan, Adam Haluska and Barnes — was a combined 5-for-31 from the field and accounted for only 15 points. Iowa head coach Steve Alford said Horner, Boyd and Chauncey Leslie lived up the challenge defensively.

“We told them this would be our measuring stick for toughness this season,” Alford said. “I thought they really passed the test.”

Sullivan, who was 3-for-16, scored just eight points. It was only the fourth time all season he had been held under double-figures. Barnes didn’t fare much better. He had made 29 treys in the last eight games, but was just 1-for-8 against the Hawkeyes.

“They made us shoot from the perimeter and at this time of the year, it’s a 50-50 thing from the perimeter — you might have a great night, you might have a bad night because your legs are tired,” Sullivan said. “They just kept us on the perimeter, contained my penetration, contained Timmy’s penetration and we missed shots.”

Vroman led the Cyclones with 20 points and Jared Homan added 14. Eustachy said his team needed production from both the frontcourt and backcourt to win.

“We had a lot of open looks. We just missed a lot of open shots,” Eustachy said. “We don’t have a lot of depth down low and have to take some perimeter shots sometimes.”

Iowa (17-13) took a 26-19 lead to the locker room at halftime, and led by 10 with 5:56 left, but Iowa State fought back with the help of six Iowa turnovers in less than three minutes. The crowd exploded when Barnes capped off a 10-0 run by the Cyclones to tie the game at 49 with 3:05 left. Marcus Jefferson swished two free throws to give Iowa State its first lead since the games opening minutes.

Barnes stole the ball and found Vroman on the fast break to give Iowa State a 53-50 lead and set up the wild finish.

Iowa will face Georgia Tech in the second round of the NIT Monday at 7 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa State’s season is over with the loss.

“Losing is tough and to lose like this is just a heart breaker,” Barnes said. “It’s going to be my motivation.”