Senior Tyray Pearson scored a career-high 30 points and Iowa State led for most of the first half, but couldn’t hang on against the No. 6 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys.

“I told our team that Oklahoma State did just what it took and no more to put you away,” ISU coach Larry Eustachy said. “They just dropped you off on the curb, and you’re a cheap date.”

The Cyclones were trailing by three in Saturday’s game with three seconds left as sophomore Jake Sullivan purposely missed his second free throw in hope that Iowa State could tip it back and make a three to send the game into overtime. But Oklahoma State got a hand on the tip and the ball sailed past mid-court, leaving the final score 69-66, halting Iowa State’s conference home-win streak at 19.

“We had an opportunity and couldn’t get it done,” Eustachy said. “We tried to miss that free throw and tip it and get a three to go to overtime. That’s how close we were, yet so far away. We were an ocean away.”

Perhaps the biggest momentum change in the game came with 2:32 left in the first half. Iowa State was leading 30-28 but turned the ball over five straight times. The Cowboys took advantage of the miscues and went on an 8-2 run to take the half-time lead, 36-32.

“I thought our team unraveled,” Eustachy said. “They really put the pressure on us.”

Two of the turnovers came as the result of steals from the quick Oklahoma State junior, Victor Williams.

“We had a four-minute spurt where we played bad and it cost us the game,” sophomore Shane Power said.

Iowa State trailed by as many as 10 in the second half, but battled back to outscore Oklahoma State 34-33 in the half.

“The game was lost early. The game was lost before we started in all honesty, I think. We’ll see, time will tell,” Eustachy said. “I think our team believed we could win Wednesday [against Missouri], and for some reason I don’t think we believed we could win this game. That’s just part of maturing, it’s youth.”

Oklahoma State was led by sophomore Ivan McFarlin who had 16 points. The Cowboys’ two leading scorers, senior Maurice Baker and Williams, were held to just 13 points each on a combined 9-of-27 shooting.

Sullivan pitched in 16 for the Cyclones, making both of his three point attempts and Power added 12. But the two combined for only 17 shot attempts to Pearson’s 20.

“[Williams] just did a great job on me, help was there, but it was pretty much man on man,” Sullivan said. “He was awesome defensively; there is no question about that.”

The win moves Oklahoma State to 2-1 in the Big 12 and 15-1 overall while Iowa State drops to 1-2 and 9-8 on the season.

“This is a game we should have won, this is a game we had to win,” Power said. “You can’t lose at home in the Big 12.”

The Cyclones hit the road to play Colorado on Tuesday.

boxscore

No. 6 OKLAHOMA ST. 69, IOWA ST. 66

OKLAHOMA ST. (15-1)ÿ

McFarlin 6-8 4-4 16, Sanders 3-6 1-3 8, Jonzen 5-8 1-2 11, Baker 4-13 2-2 13, V.Williams 5-14 2-2 13, Crawford 0-0 0-2 0, Broxsie 0-0 0-0 0, Gadson 2-2 0-0 4, A.Williams 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 27-55 10-15 69.

IOWA ST. (9-8)ÿ

Jefferson 3-6 0-0 6, Homan 0-3 0-0 0, Pearson 10-20 10-13 30, Sullivan 4-8 6-8 16, Power 5-9 2-2 12, Bynum 1-2 0-0 2, Morgan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-49 18-23 66.

Halftime-Oklahoma St. 36-32. 3-Point goals-Oklahoma St. 5-10 (Baker 3-6, Sanders 1-3, V.Williams 1-1), Iowa St. 2-5 (Sullivan 2-2, Power 0-1, Jefferson 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Oklahoma St. 32 (McFarlin 8), Iowa St. 30 (Pearson 9). Assists-Oklahoma St. 14 (V.Williams 7), Iowa St. 14 (Morgan 4). Total fouls-Oklahoma St. 21, Iowa St. 15. A-13,226.