LINCOLN, Neb. – Larry Eustachy called it a “gallant” effort by his

team,

but it wasn’t enough.

In a season of tough breaks the ISU men’s basketball team may have

suffered

the toughest of them all, losing to the Nebraska Cornhuskers 86-84 in

overtime.

“I thought we made the plays to win this game,” Cyclone Shane Power

said.

“We got stop after stop when we needed to, that’s the mark of a tough

team.”

Tough or not, Iowa State is off to its worst conference start since

going

1-6 in 1993-94. It was also the eighth straight time the Cyclones have

lost

an overtime contest, their last win in the extra stanza coming against

Nebraska in 1994-95.

“I thought it was just a great game,” Eustachy said. “Unfortunately

we’re

getting in all these great games and we’re coming up with the short end

of

the stick.”

The Cyclones are 1-6 in the Big 12 Conference, 9-12 overall and have

lost

four of their conference games by five points or less.

Even Tyray Pearson’s career-high 32 points weren’t enough to pull out

a win

in hostile territory. The loss drops the Cyclones to 0-4 on the road in

the

Big 12 and with games at Texas Tech, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma left

Iowa

State will have to pull off an upset to avoid going 0-8 on the road in

conference play for the first time since 1997-98.

“You can’t make any mistakes, you’ve got to execute every play down

the

stretch,” Pearson said.

Nebraska sent the game into overtime when Ross Buckendahl, who was one

of

eight on the year behind the arc, hit a three-pointer to tie the score

at

75-75. The Huskers killed the Cyclones with threes all game, hitting 13

of

30.

Sullivan missed a three with 12 seconds left and the game went into

overtime.

In the overtime period the Cyclones again had the final chance with

2.4

seconds left down by two points. Cyclone sharp shooter Jake Sullivan,

who

had 22 points and was four of 11 from three-point land was used as a

decoy.

Marcus Jefferson caught the ball at the top of the arc, pump-faked and

fired a shot that hit the backboard and bounced off the front of the

rim,

securing Nebraska’s win as their fans stormed onto the court.

“Jake was a decoy,” Eustachy said. “We knew they’d be all over

him.

So that was the play and I thought we got a hell of a look.”

Sullivan gave Jefferson credit for taking the final shot.

“Marcus was tough enough to shoot the shot,” Sullivan said. “I missed

one

at the end of regulation, he missed one, but you got to have guts to

shoot

the ball, but it doesn’t come down to that. We lost the game throughout

parts of the game.”

In a game where 52 fouls were called, free throws were also a huge

factor.

The Cyclones hit 24 of 31 while Nebraska made 23 of 38.

Pearson hit 16 of 20 freebies.

Foul trouble hurt the Cyclones though, as they lost Omar Bynum, Jared

Homan

and Power to fouls. Power finished with 14 points.

“Both teams were in foul trouble,” Sullivan said. “It wasn’t just a

one way

thing.”

Nebraska was led by John Robinson II who scored 18, but none were more

important than his final two from the free-throw line that gave

Nebraska the

lead for good.

“It’s just a make-or-break situation,” Jefferson said. “Unfortunately

we

came out on the short end of the stick.”

Iowa State took a 12-3 lead early led by the hot hand of Sullivan. He

scored two quick three-point baskets. Led by Sullivan and Power, the

Cyclones managed to keep the lead around 10 for most of the first half.

Sullivan finished the half with 11 points while Power knocked in 10

for

Iowa State, which played most of the first 20 minutes without Pearson,

who

found himself in foul trouble. Pearson picked up his third personal

foul

with 7:42 left to go and played just eight minutes.

Pearson still managed to score six points in the half, Omar Bynum and

Marcus Jefferson added four apiece. Jared Homan had a dunk to round out

the

first half scoring for the Cyclones.

The Huskers chipped away at the Cyclone lead as the first half came to

a

close.

Jake Muhleisen kept Nebraska close, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the

first half including two of three from three-point land. His final trey

came

just before the period ended closing Nebraska to within five, 37-32.

The Cornhuskers ended the half on a 7-2 run.

“In the Big 12 every game you play is gonna be tough so you just gotta

come

out and not make mistakes at all,” Pearson said.

The next test for Iowa State will be at home when they play Texas A&M

7

p.m. Tuesday.