When Larry Eustachy glanced at the scoreboard with about 6:30 left in the Iowa State-Colorado game Saturday, he saw the score. He then had to look again, because he couldn’t believe what he saw.

His team was up 76-46, and well on its way to an 86-72 win that extended the Cyclones record winning streak 12 games.

“I was really surprised at the score. We’ve been playing really well, and they hadn’t been, and that’s usually when these games are the most dangerous,” Eustachy said.

The Cyclones were led by Marcus Fizer, who scored 24 points on 10-17 shooting from the field.

The first half was highlighted by a 14-3 run that extended the Cyclone lead to 36-23 with under a minute left in the first half.

The second half showed the Cyclones were unwilling to let Colorado back into the game, as the lead reached its zenith at 30, while the smallest margin came at the final score, after the walk-ons made their obligatory blowout appearance.

In a game clearly dominated by Iowa State, there were several players that had standout performances.

Brandon Hawkins tallied his career high with 12 points on 6-9 shooting from the field. His aggressive performance came as a surprise to many observers, who had witnessed the freshman become very tentative with the start of conference play.

However, he was buoyed by a talk had with Eustachy earlier in the week.

“He took me into his office and told me that I had to start stepping up and stop playing like a freshman. He told me I needed to be more aggressive, and that’s what I tried to do,” Hawkins said.

Stevie Johnson continued his steady play on the inside, contributing 13 points on 4-5 from the field. Johnson also hit all five of his free throws and dished out three assists.

And, of course, Jamaal Tinsley was once again the stat man, picking up 12 points, six rebounds and six assists, along with a steal and a block.

Tinsley was typically rather unimpressed with his performance.

“I’m just doing my job out there. It’s great to be playing well. If we execute well, we can beat anybody,” Tinsley said.

A certain highlight of the rather blase second half occurred when Tinsley did his best Curly Neal impression, dribbling through three players, slipping and sliding all the way to the hoop before dishing to Paul Shirley, who finished the play appropriately with a monster dunk.

“We see that every day in practice. I’m just glad to see that the crowd got to witness that,” Hawkins said.

Eustachy was also happy the disappointing throng of 10,428 got to see the exhibition.

“Hey, it sells tickets, right? No, Jamaal can do that whenever he wants, I just wish he wouldn’t foul,” Eustachy said.

Overall, Iowa State shredded the Colorado defense for 47 points and 64 percent shooting in the second half.

The Cyclones will now travel to Manhattan, Kan. to take on the Kansas State Wildcats. A 4-0 start to the conference would no doubt do wonders to a team that already has its sights set high.