Cyclones rally past Tennessee Tech, 89-74

Jordan Gizzarelli

It was a tale of two halves Tuesday night at Hilton Coliseum, where the Iowa State Cyclones men’s basketball team ran their record to 6-0 and extended the team’s winning streak at home to 25 consecutive games. The Cyclones used some torrid second half shooting to put away a Tennessee Tech team, 89-74, that just wouldn’t seem to go away in the first half. The Golden Eagles outshot, out rebounded and basically outplayed Iowa State for the first fifteen minutes of the game, even amassing a lead as big as 18 points at the 5:39 mark during the first half. Guard Joey Westmoreland canned two 3-pointers early and totaled 8 points in the first half. Guard Leigh Gayden had 10 points, and forward Rusty Strange added 6 points on 3 of 3 shooting.Paul Shirley’s 13 first-half points and unmatched hustle helped to keep the ‘Clones in the game, as did Kantrail Horton’s 9 points and Tyray Pearson’s 7 points. To go along with being outshot and out rebounded, Iowa State committed 5 turnovers in the first half, and lost point guard Jamaal Tinsley to 3 fouls with 6:05 remaining. All of this, coupled with 7 Tennessee Tech 3-pointers gave the visitors a 49-35 advantage going into the half.After intermission, it was a different story for Iowa State as Tinsley returned to lead an astounding charge that would see the Cyclones go on an incredible 20-0 run out of the locker room and never look back.Iowa State’s run saw them go from a 49-35 deficit at halftime, to a 57-49 lead at the 13:50 mark.After holding Tennessee Tech scoreless for 6:10, the Golden Eagles got a 3-pointer by Brent Holly to end their scoring drought, but never regained the hot hand that saw them shoot 56 percent from the field in the first frame.Tinsley scored 16 of his 17 points in the second half, to go along with his 3 assists. Horton tallied 21 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Pearson contributed 13 points for the victors, and Jake Sullivan added 10 points. Shirley finished with 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.Leading Tennessee Tech in scoring was guard Leigh Gayden with 17 points, with guard Jason Harrell adding 13 points. Highly-touted guard Larrie Smith was held to 11 points, well below his average of 18 ppg.