The future and upcoming season of Iowa State basketball gives Cyclone fans reason for excitement, despite falling to other top recruits from the country, 104-107, in Tim Knight’s/ Reebok’s 1st Annual Big 22 Classic at Hilton Coliseum.

1997-98 Cyclone recruits C.J. Bruton, Andy Stensrud, Marcus Fizer, Lee Love, Martin Rancik, Gerrod Henderson, Jerry Curry, Chris Ridens and Walter Moore made up the North team.

The game was scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. start, but was pushed back to 2:00 to make way for the three-point contest before the game, which was surprisingly won by a center.

Future Texas Longhorn Chris Mihm, a 6-foot 11-inch center, took the competition with a score of 17 points.

The North contestants of Henderson and Curry finished in third and fourth place with 14 and 9 points respectively.

The game itself featured a barrage of three-point buckets, slam dunks and yes, missed buckets and turnovers.

It was future Cyclones Henderson, Rancik and Love making a splash with the hometown crowd.

Henderson was the MVP for the North, finishing with 21 points. Love finished the game with 12 points while racking up six assists. Rancik, who is originally from Slovakia, finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

“I’ve never played in front of a crowd like that before. I’m from a town of about 3,000 people, so I was like, wow,” Henderson said.

Henderson also lit up Hilton with his high-flying dunks at halftime in the slam dunk competition.

Henderson took the dunk title with a tomahawk-esque slam that sent the Cyclone fans to their feet in approval.

“That felt good. I like playing in front of big crowds like that.

Forward Rancik, always vocal on the court, said he enjoyed the atmosphere of the Hilton.

“It was great. I’ve never played [in front of] that many people. It was awesome,” Rancik said.

But Rancik was quick to point out that allowing 107 points on defense was an area of the game Iowa State Head Basketball Coach Tim Floyd would soon correct.

“Coach Floyd is a defensive coach, and he teaches a defensive style. I say OK to that. I hope we can keep the other team from scoring 100 points,” Rancik said with a grin.

Point guard Love, who’s late three-point efforts brought fans to their feet, said the game was basically a good experience for he and his teammates to get acquainted.

“This last week of practice has been a lot of fun. We all got along, and we all practiced hard. These are the things that you look for in a winning team,” Love said.

“They all come and practice hard. We know we’ll be a young team, but we’ll get better. We’re all excited,” he added.