Cyclones blow past the Sooners

Jordan Gizzarell

Kantrail Horton scored a career high 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Iowa State’s 100-80 victory over Oklahoma in Iowa State’s Big 12 season opener Saturday. The win extended Iowa State’s home winning streak to 29 games, second best nationally behind Michigan State, and marked the 11th consecutive Big 12 win for the Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum.Although Horton’s big game led the way for Iowa State, the Cyclone squad was also sparked by other ISU players.Richard Evans participated from off the bench while some uncanny three-point shooting from Jamaal Tinsley and an all-around balanced attack contributed to the Cyclone win.Following a sluggish start in the first half, the ‘Clones outscored the visiting Sooners 59-31 after halftime.Tinsley opened the second half with a three-pointer and jump-started the Cyclone team. He connected on four of five three-point attempts in the second half, and the Cyclones hit eight three-pointers in the half.Evans pulled down seven rebounds and scored 10 of his 14 points after halftime, mostly on his eight of 10 shooting performance from the free-throw line. Prior to halftime, the prospects looked dim for Iowa State as they conceded 49 points and allowed Oklahoma to shoot 64 percent from the field. “I thought we were out-determined in the first half,” ISU Head Coach LarryEustachy said. “We were trying; they were trying harder. They wanted it more.” Sooner forward Aaron McGhee scored 15 of his 22 points in the first half, and guards Hollis Price and Nolan Johnson dropped in 13 and 10 points, respectively.ISU freshman guard Jake Sullivan’s 12 points on four of five shooting in the first half kept the Cyclones in the game, as did Paul Shirley’s eight points and five rebounds. Iowa State found themselves trailing 45-31 with 3:24 remaining in the half, but they cut into the Sooners lead with a late charge and closed to 49-41 at halftime.After halftime, Eustachy saw his team go on runs of 25-8 and 12-3 and shoot 60 percent from the field and 72 percent from three-point range. “I told our team at halftime, ‘This is what’s great about basketball; there’s two halves,’ and challenged a lot of them individually, and I thought we really stepped up and played our best 20 minutes so far,” Eustachy said. Horton scored 21 of his 27 points in the final 20 minutes, and Tinsley added 12 of his 17 points after halftime.Saturday’s win puts at Iowa State at 13-1 for the season, a new school best. The team travels to Stillwater, Okla., today to face Oklahoma State in a televised game at 8 p.m. on ESPN.