Jake Sullivan kept Iowa State in the game early on, but it was the rest of the Cyclones who would bring home the win in the second half.

Iowa State (11-5, 1-4 Big 12) came from as many as 11 points down to stave off Nebraska 71-61 in front of 12,108 at Hilton Coliseum.

Sullivan, who claimed responsibility for the team’s previous loss at Missouri Tuesday, started off red-hot from the field, hitting seven of his first eight shots. Jump shots, transition baskets, long range bombs — they were all going in for the junior.

“I just got rolling,” Sullivan said. “Fortunately the shots were going in.”

The rest of his teammates, however, combined to go 1-for-12 from the floor in the same time period as the Cornhuskers built an 11-point lead with 9:53 remaining in the first half.

Corey Simms and Nate Johnson combined to take Nebraska on an 11-0 run early in the game. After Sullivan hit two jumpers, Johnson would keep it going. The junior guard had five more points in another 9-2 run as Nebraska took its biggest lead of the day.

Iowa State’s offensive production was all from Sullivan until Jared Homan made a free throw over 10 minutes into the game. Then the offense started to gel for the Cyclones.

Sullivan’s fade-away jumper rolled in, giving him 18 points in the first half, as Iowa State closed the gap with a 17-5 streak. The Cyclones would trail by just two at the break, 32-30.

“I wasn’t going to let us lose today,” Sullivan said. “I’m just really trying to stay focused and doing what needs to be done to help this team win. It was my fault we lost at Missouri; I really do believe that. I just wanted to take it upon myself to lead this team to a victory today and do whatever it took. It meant scoring in the first half and it meant getting people the ball in the second half.”

Tim Barnes, who had been struggling with his shooting coming into the game, was on the receiving end of Sullivan’s passes after halftime. Working off intense ISU defense on the opposite end of the court, Barnes knocked down three consecutive shots — including two three-pointers — and the Cyclones never looked back.

“We had a good talk at halftime,” ISU head coach Larry Eustachy said. “I thought we picked it up right away.”

After blocking just two Nebraska shots in the first half, the Cyclones swatted away 15 shot attempts after halftime, including five in the first five minutes of the second half. The 17 blocks were a school record and a Big 12 Conference record. The blocks helped hold Nebraska to 25 percent shooting in the second half.

“Our strength is our defense and we knew that if we picked that up, it would spark our offense,” Barnes said. “We got the ball inside and they would do a great job of kicking it out when they didn’t have the shot.

“They played awesome. It was all because of our big men. That’s what helped spark us.”

With 14:19 left, Barnes found Jackson Vroman in transition and Vroman was able to score despite a foul, giving Iowa State a 46-36 lead. Barnes and Vroman would hook up again six minutes later when Barnes cut off a Cornhusker pass as they looked to run and got it straight to Vroman who slammed it home to give Iowa State a 13-point edge.

Nebraska fought back within five points with a minute remaining, but Iowa State’s Adam Haluska hit a big three-pointer to end any thoughts of a Nebraska comeback.

Sullivan led all scorers with 23 points and Barnes added 17 points and six assists. Johnson led Nebraska (9-9, 1-4) with 17 points.

After dropping four straight games to ranked opponents as part of a brutal start to the Big 12 season, Eustachy said he understood why his players might have considered this game a breather in the first half.

“We’ve just played so many tough teams rank-wise that you can take Nebraska lightly and as much as you can tell the younger players that, they don’t understand it, so that’s how you can get down by 10 quickly,” Eustachy said.

Vroman, who had a great line with 10 points, nine rebounds, eight blocks and four steals, said it’s a relief to get a Big 12 win. He and three other starters — Barnes, Haluska and Chris Alexander — had not won a conference game so far this season.

“We couldn’t afford to lose this game tonight,” Vroman said. “And we knew it.”