While the Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team may play in Lincoln, Neb., its foundation is in Mexico, Mo.

The Husker backcourt tandem of junior Tyronn Lue and sophomore Cookie Belcher, both from the small Missouri town, combined for 45 points and 11 assists as the duo led Nebraska to a 70-62 win over Iowa State on Saturday night.

The road win over ISU pushed the Huskers (19-10, 10-6) one step closer to garnering one of 64 berths in the NCAA Tournament.

After Saturday’s performance, ISU Coach Tim Floyd said he believes the Huskers are worthy of an at-large bid from the selection committee.

He had high praise for Nebraska, especially its leaders, Lue and Belcher.

“They have a great backcourt — an NCAA Tournament backcourt,” Floyd said.

“I thought that the difference obviously in the game was Tyronn Lue,” he said. “He dominates a game with the ball in his hands.”

Lue, who closed with 24 points, was held in check in the first half, but took the game over in the second stanza, continuously penetrating past ISU defenders to get clean looks at the basket.

Lue was only 2-for-8 in the first half, but was perfect on nine attempts after the intermission.

ISU guards Lee Love, Paris Corner and Brad Johnson handled most of the defensive duties on the star.

Johnson said the chore was a difficult one.

“He played a great game,” he said. “All I can do is congratulate him. The guy’s by far the quickest player in this league. He’s going to make some money someday.”

Lue was not the only Husker to find the hot hand late in the game, as the team shot 72.7 percent from the field in the second half and 58 percent for the contest. The solid floor shooting outweighed the Huskers’ woes (8-20) from the free throw line.

The game got off on the wrong foot for the Cyclones, as the Huskers staked themselves out to a 14-4 lead with 14:33 left.

But ISU regrouped and reeled off 11 straight points over the game’s next five minutes to take a one point lead.

The contest remained close throughout the half, and even though ISU leading scorer Marcus Fizer attempted only one shot and did not score in the first half, the Cyclones trailed just 31-29 at the break.

Fizer got things going in the second half and wound up with 14 points to lead the Cyclones.

His scoring output pushed him past Julius Michalik as the all-time leading freshman scorer in ISU history with 436 points.

Fizer was surprised to hear about his feat.

“I didn’t really set out this year to accomplish anything like that,” he said.

Fizer also topped the team in rebounds with nine, but Nebraska held the edge on the boards 32-27. The Cyclones are now 2-12 when they are beaten on the glass.

The loss drops ISU to 12-17 overall and 5-11 in the Big 12. The Cyclones finished 11th in conference and will play Missouri in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday at 8:20 p.m. in Kansas City.

Floyd said the match-up will be difficult, but not impossible.

“You don’t really want to play any of them when you’re 11th, but at the same time, I guess we’ve played three of our better halves in conference play against Missouri,” he said.

Johnson, a senior, was disappointed not to win on his home turf one last time, but has his sights set on the league tourney.

“It ended on a bad note,” Johnson said. “I really wish we could have gotten a win.

“I guess we’ll just have to regroup and get up for the Big 12 and see what we can do there — see if we can open some eyes,” he added.

Fizer is also looking forward to catching the attention of the conference’s top teams.

“I always like being the underdog. I always feel like the type of player who likes to come from behind and surprise everybody at the end,” he said.