IOWA CITY — Tim Barnes fell hard on his red-clad backside with 20 seconds left against Iowa Friday, but he was all smiles as he got up. His nifty pass inside to Jackson Vroman had just helped seal the deal against an in-state rival.

“Right then and there, I knew we had this. I knew Jackson was going to make the play and get fouled,” said Barnes, who had eight points and eight assists in the 73-69 win. “I was on my back and, oh man — I wasn’t quite ready to celebrate, but when I saw it go in, I was celebrating like there was nothing else.”

Vroman was fouled, and his three-point play put the Cyclones ahead for good after the Hawkeyes had tied the game four times in the last three minutes. Vroman said the way Barnes set him up, anyone could have made the shot.

“He just crossed his guy over at the top and came down the middle of the lane. He left his feet and my man sucked up to him, so he made a little wrap-around pass and it was a wide-open layup,” Vroman said.

The Barnes-Vroman hookup was one of many big plays by Iowa State down the stretch.

It all started after Jake Sullivan capped off a 14-2 run with an NBA-range three-pointer to tie the game at 52 midway through the second half. After Iowa had regained the lead, Iowa State used three-point plays on consecutive possessions by Vroman and Sullivan to force a tie again with just under six minutes left.

Vroman, who played the final 13 minutes with four fouls, converted another layup on the Cyclones’ next possession to give them their first lead since a 4-2 advantage in the game’s opening minutes. The junior forward had 11 of his 13 points in the last seven minutes of the game.

“Jackson had a horrible game the whole game and then the last four or five minutes were huge — the best I’ve ever seen him play,” said Sullivan, who rebounded from a poor performance against Boston College with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting.

Vroman said ISU head coach Larry Eustachy told him not to worry about picking up a fifth foul when he went back into the game. He didn’t, and he helped the Cyclones outscore the Hawkeyes 42-29 after halftime.

“I didn’t feel like if I went in there and played timid, to avoid picking up a fifth foul, that I would be a real factor for our team,” Vroman said. “I just tried to go in there and play aggressive and not worry about picking up a fifth.”

Iowa committed 18 turnovers, and its leading scorer Chauncey Leslie was held to just two points in the second half, helping the Cyclones dig out of a big hole.

“They did a better job of getting the ball inside in the second half, and that, combined with the insane 13 turnovers we had in the second half, was the difference,” Iowa coach Steve Alford said. “When it mattered the most, they were the tougher team. The lesson we got taught was that we weren’t as tough as they were.”

Eustachy said he was very surprised to see his team come back on the Hawkeyes after Iowa had built a nine-point halftime lead.

“Go ahead and pinch me,” Eustachy said.