Like they have so many times this year, the ISU men’s basketball team brought Saturday’s game against Nebraska down to the final minutes, a situation the Cyclones haven’t had much success in this season.

But times are changing and so is the win column in the Cyclone’s record as the men won their second straight game, 85-79.

“I don’t think they were doubting themselves, but they kind of had that look in their eyes when it was tight, like here we go again,” ISU head coach Larry Eustachy said about his players. “That seems to become a habit sometimes, and they

didn’t stand for it.”

With the score tied at 75 with 4 minutes, 35 seconds left to play, sophomore Jake Sullivan made six clutch free throws down and junior Omar Bynum added a bucket and some free throws of his own to help put away the Huskers.

“That was probably the most nervous I’ve been on free throws,” Sullivan said.

Despite trailing 43-36 at halftime, the Cyclones were able to come out in the second half and shut down the Nebraska shooters who made 10 of 19 three pointers in the first half.

“I thought we just played harder, got after them. The plan was to not let them shoot threes, and they had 19 attempts at half,” Eustachy said. “We almost lost it in the first half, but what a great effort in the second half.”

Four Cyclones scored 18 points or more including sophomore Shane Power and senior Tyray Pearson who each scored 20 points. Sullivan had 18 points and Bynum had a career-high 19 points along with nine rebounds.

“I’m tickled for him,” Eustachy said of Bynum. “He’s worked hard, he’s a good guy.”

Freshman guard Ricky Morgan had a career-high eight assists to just one turnover in the game.

“Ricky’s play is great at the point,” Sullivan said. “He’s really freeing me and Shane up for a lot of things offensively.”

Morgan has 15 assists and just three turnovers in Iowa State’s last two victories, and Eustachy called him Saturday’s player of the game.

“I expected something like this,” Eustachy said. “He came with too many credentials, and I’ve seen him play too many times well in the past. It’s neat to see a guy come so far.”

Nebraska, despite turning the ball over a school record low three times for the game, could not pick up their first Big 12 road victory of the season. Sophomore Brian Conklin led the Huskers with 20 points on six of 10 from behind the arc.

Eustachy and company agreed this win was more gratifying than Wednesday’s dominating win against Colorado, because they were able to pull one out at the end.

“It felt good,” Power said. “This is when all the conditioning and staying after shooting and all the free throws when you’re dead tired, it pays off. That’s what we kept telling ourselves in the huddle.”

The Cyclones will ride their two game winning streak into Kansas tonight to try to defeat the Jayhawks for the third straight time in Lawrence. Eustachy’s game plan is simple.

“We’re bringing Jamaal [Tinsley] in,” Eustachy joked. “It’s going to cost me a lot of money because I got to get Kantrail [Horton] and Martin [Rancik] from Italy to come back. Paul [Shirley] is in Greece; I got a good deal on that ticket. We’ve got a heck of a chance.”

In all seriousness, the Cyclones are planning on using their momentum from the last two wins to help them hang with Kansas.

“I think this especially gives us a lot of confidence going in there,” Bynum said.

The Jayhawks, led by junior Drew Gooden who averages 21 points a game, haven’t lost a game in the Big 12 this season.

“As we’ve seen in the past, you have to be razor-sharp going into Kansas,” Power said. “If you play good defense and work real hard, you can hang around in the game, and that’s all you can ask for.”