As the seconds ticked away in last night’s Iowa State-Drake game, one had the feeling that the Cyclones were about to get paid back for their miraculous comeback Saturday night.

However, when Drake guard Matt Woodley’s long range jumper fell short, ISU made a Copperfield-esque escape in their 57-56 win.

“This is a great win for us. Drake is a good team; they’re well coached, and it’s a big win,” Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy said.

The game started out as a true defensive struggle, as with almost six minutes gone, the score was 2-2.

Then with 14:40 left in the half, Eustachy inserted the Cyclones’ lightning rod, Michael Nurse.

Coming off a 16-point performance in which he played only 19 minutes, Nurse made an immediate impact, as he had a three-pointer and two assists in the ensuing 11-0 run that made the score 13-2.

ISU kept up its suffocating defense that limited the Bulldogs’ leading scorer, Dontay Harris, to no points in the first half.

The ‘Clones took a 29-17 lead into halftime, and were led by Nurse, who had eight points, and a defense which held Drake, averaging 81 points entering the game, to 27 percent shooting from the field.

“I thought our defense was, at times, brilliant in the first half. We did a good job of getting out on their shooters, and limiting their offensive rebounds,” Eustachy said.

The second half began in much the same fashion, as with 10:15 left in the game, ISU enjoyed a 53-38 lead.

Minus having a guy coming off the bench fresh from a life-threatening accident with stitches in his head, the Bulldogs closely resembled the Cyclones of Saturday night for the duration of the game.

The Cyclones would manage only four points for the rest of the game, while on the other side of the court, Drake started to make the jump shots that had carried them to a 4-1 start.

Harris began to come alive and had 13 points in the half, including several circus-type shots that fell for the athletic forward.

“I thought we did a good job on him in the second half, too. But this time his shots were falling,” Eustachy said.

Also heavily involved in the final 10 minutes, which included a run of 14-2, were Woodley, who ran the offense smoothly, and sharpshooter Armand LeVasseur, who had eight points in the run.

The game came down to the final minute after an Aaron Deeter lay-in with 1:15 brought the Bulldogs to within a point.

The teams traded empty trips, as Stevie Johnson missed a short jumper, and Woodley turned the ball over to Rodney Hampton.

After the turnover, Johnson was fouled with 13 seconds left.

He missed the front end of the one-and-one, and after Levasseur passed up a shot, Woodley couldn’t connect, and the Cyclones had their sixth win of the year.

The Cyclones were led by Marcus Fizer, who finished the game with 12 points on 5-14 shooting.

“They did a great job on Marcus. It’s tough to play when you have three guys around you. You have to go and get the ball, and tonight he didn’t do it,” Eustachy said.

“We rolled the dice a little bit and completely collapsed on Fizer. It ended up working pretty well, but they still made some threes that were the difference,” Drake coach Kurt Kanaskie said.

Both the coach and the players had reasons for the late-game collapse.

“I thought we let up a little bit at the 10-minute mark, which is really inexcusable. We got out with a win tonight, but we know we can’t do that in the future,” Johnson, who tied a career-high with 12 rebounds, said.

“I think we’re tired right now. I know I’m tired. Just look at our schedule lately. I mean, who’re we kidding? It’s like an NBA schedule,” Eustachy said.

ISU now hosts what Eustachy terms the “biggest game we’ve had yet” when they travel to Iowa on Saturday.