Well before tip-off, the chants of “Let’s go State” overpowered the “Let’s go Hawks” call.

Things got heated in the 56th meeting between the Hawkeyes and Cyclones — as they often do in this rivalry.

Larry Eustachy was animated, as usual.

Every seat was spoken for as 14,020 fans watched history unfold before their eyes.

And the floor did rumble just a little.

The pro-Cyclones crowd expected a battle in the rematch in the Iowa-Iowa State series, and the outcome kept them on the edge of their seats with Iowa handing Iowa State a season-ending 54-53 loss Friday in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.

“It’s a sweet one isn’t it?” Iowa head coach Steve Alford hollered to a dozen Iowa fans that had waited for him outside Hilton Coliseum.

Alford’s Hawkeyes face Georgia Tech tonight at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and will try and stay alive in the hunt for an NIT championship.

It was a sour ending for the Cyclones, whose tumultuous season came to a close.

“Both teams played so hard,” said Jake Sullivan, who was hounded all night by Iowa’s defense and finished with eight points.

“It was just a great basketball game and they won it.”

Iowa took a 10-point lead on a free throw by Chauncey Leslie with 5:56 remaining and then nearly self-destructed. First, Leslie lost the handle and Iowa State came up with the ball. Then, Sean Sonderleiter threw it away. Then Leslie lost it out-of-bounds. In all, six Iowa turnovers in less than 2 1/2 minutes helped the Cyclones crawl back into it. The game was most definitely on when Tim Barnes canned a three-pointer from the right corner to tie it at 49 all with just over three minutes left.

And the cardinal-and-gold crowd exploded.

But after Iowa State built a three-point lead, Jeff Horner swished a three off an out-of-bounds play with the shot clock winding down to tie it up again with 43 ticks left on the clock.

The outcome wasn’t known until Barnes’ off-balanced shot at the buzzer bounced off the rim and Herky the Hawkeye rolled around in glee at mid-court.

Intensity. Emotion. Rivalry. This one had it all.

It was physical throughout and 41 fouls were called in the 40-minute game, with Iowa’s Glen Worley and Iowa State’s Jackson Vroman fouling out. Sullivan screamed in pain after he dislocated a finger in his right hand in the final minutes and Jared Homan got knocked in the nose. Adam Haluska got up slow and eventually left the game after a scrambling for a loose ball with Jeff Horner and Worley in the closing minutes of the first half.

Eustachy said everybody hurts toward the end of the season.

“Both teams are really beat up,” Eustachy said. “I understand that Horner has to have something done to his heel and Jake has a ruptured tendon in his ankle that requires surgery at the end of the year. Everybody was hurt. I don’t think it had anything to do with the outcome.”

The deafening noise that filled Hilton Coliseum after Barnes’ trey was a welcome joy for the ISU faithful, who booed the referees just as much as they cheered on their team in the first half.

One fan threw debris on the court after a series of questionable calls and the seventh team foul on Cyclones — compared to three for the Hawkeyes — near the nine-minute mark in the first half. Play was stopped and an announcement was made that further disruption of the game would result in a technical foul for the home team.

Leslie, Iowa’s leading scorer, gave Iowa a 22-19 lead on a jumper with 3:46 left in the first half, but many in attendance voiced their displeasure that traveling was not called on the senior guard. A time out was called and Eustachy sought out an explanation.

As Eustachy stood atop the Cyclone logo at mid-court, he stared at referees Frank Spencer and Dave Cronin who were speaking to one another underneath the basket opposite of the ISU squad. One of them motioned for Eustachy to stay on his side of the court and after a few seconds the fifth-year coach joined his team in the huddle.

After the game, Eustachy didn’t talk about any of the referee’s calls or non-calls. Rather, he spoke about how far he has seen his squad progress in the last five months.

“Of any team I’ve ever coached in my life, I’ve never been as proud as I am of this team or this effort,” Eustachy said. “We really battled. It was two teams going at it very hard.”

Eustachy had hoped it would work out this way, with Iowa and Iowa State both winning their opening round NIT games to set up a rematch. Iowa defeated Valparaiso Monday and Iowa State knocked off Wichita State Wednesday.

“In all honesty, I was pulling for Iowa against Valpo,” Eustachy said.

“Pete Taylor probably just rolled over in his grave right there, but it was because I thought it would be a great match-up wherever it was played and I’m for these in-state games. How can you fault the atmosphere?”