Wichita State did something two NCAA tournament qualifiers couldn’t do when it hung with Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum Wednesday, but the Cyclones used a second half surge to knock off the Shockers in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament.

The 76-65 ISU win in front of a nearly packed house of 13,955 set up a rematch with intrastate rival Iowa in Ames on Friday.

“[The crowd] was the difference for sure,” ISU head coach Larry Eustachy said. “Wichita State did a great job of out-determining us early and the crowd really, really got us going.ÿ …The magic was definitely there tonight.”

“They were kind of like our sixth man tonight,” said Jake Sullivan, who led all scorers with 23 points.

Smaller crowds watched Iowa State throttle Colorado 81-55 on Feb. 25 and easily handle Missouri 71-55 in its regular season finale a week later. The Buffaloes are a No. 10 seed and the Tigers are sixth-seeded in the NCAA tournament, which begins Thursday.

But on Wednesday, the Shockers were thinking upset through the first 20 minutes of play.

Iowa State (17-13) trailed by as many as nine points in the first half and didn’t take the lead until Tim Barnes sped past numerous defenders and pulled up to nail a long three pointer — his second straight — with just under 16 minutes left.

“After I made that first one, it got my blood flowing and I just came down and thought why not shoot the ball? It might go in,” Barnes said.

It was one of four treys Barnes had after halftime and part of 16-3 run that helped ISU catch up to the Shockers. Barnes finished with 21 points on 5-of-11 from long range and also snagged seven rebounds.

“When he gets hot, he gets hot,” Sullivan said. “It’s unbelievable. You just get him the ball and get out of the way. He did it again.”

Sullivan knocked down a fall-away jumper to put Iowa State in front 51-43 and extended the lead to 10 with a trey at the four-minute mark. Wichita State (18-12) made it interesting down the stretch, coming within five with two minutes left, but Sullivan used a nifty up and under move to score again. After igniting the crowd with shot, Sullivan smiled from ear to ear and stuck out his tongue as if to take it all in.

“I was just out there having a good time to be honest with you. I regret my freshman year, not enjoying the postseason when we were out there,” said Sullivan, referring to Iowa State’s first-round exit from the NCAA tournament in 2001. “You never know if you’re going to get back to this opportunity, so I was just out there enjoying myself.”

The Shockers, who finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference behind Southern Illinois and Creighton, jumped out to an 11-2 lead but the 6-foot Barnes sparked the Cyclones when his high bank shot over a WSU big man dropped through. Soon after that Barnes had raced down the court and looked to pull up for three, but fired a bullet pass to Jackson Vroman for an easy lay-in.

Barnes hit his only three of the first half to bring Iowa State within two and Marcus Jefferson grabbed a loose ball on the next possession and outraced defenders for a two-handed slam to knot the score at 14.

“Marcus was the difference. He really was,” Eustachy said about his sixth-man. “He was the punch we needed off the bench.”

Randy Burns, who led the Shockers with 15.2 points per game coming in, sliced through the lane and scored to bump the WSU lead to 27-20 with 5:38 until halftime, but wouldn’t score again until he swished a three with 6:11 left in the game. Burns finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Paul Miller led the Shockers with 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

Iowa State connected on 7-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes to seal the win. When Marcus Jefferson went to the line with 29.8 seconds left, fans chanted “Beat the Hawks.”

The Cyclones did just that on Dec. 13 in come-from-behind fashion in a 73-69 win in front of a packed house at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“Hopefully we don’t have to rely on coming back on them this time,” Vroman said. “Tonight we had to rely on some hot shooting and we don’t want to have to do that against Iowa.”

Friday’s game, which tips off at 7 p.m., will mark the first postseason matchup between Iowa and Iowa State in their 56 meetings. The winner will face Georgia Tech at a site to be determined. The Yellow Jackets knocked off Ohio State 72-58 Wednesday.

Iowa State was out-rebounded by Wichita State and the Shockers shot 50 percent in the first half. Eustachy said his team must shore up those two areas to have a chance against the Hawkeyes.

“We had better grow up quick or our season will be over,” Eustachy said.