The final edition of the Hy-Vee Big Four Classic took place on Saturday with Iowa State taking on Drake at Wells Fargo Arena. The first game of the day’s doubleheader turned into a back-and-forth slugfest. In the end, Iowa State came out on top, 77-68.

To start the game, Iowa State jumped out to a 13-5 lead on the back of nine early points from Talen Horton-Tucker. Soon, though, the Cyclones found themselves trailing 20-15 after a 15-2 run from the Bulldogs. 

The game would continue to swing back and forth for the rest of the first half, with the Cyclones taking advantage of a late Drake cold streak to go into the half with a 36-32 lead. Iowa State shot 42.1 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes but hit four of 14 3-point attempts. 

Drake started 5-for-10 from three, but it ended the half with six straight misses from deep. 

The two teams stayed close, with Iowa State up 44-43 at the under-16 timeout. Redshirt sophomore forward Cam Lard did not enter the game until the 14:36 mark of the second half. 

The Bulldogs led 51-47 at the under-12 break, getting plenty of scoring opportunities in the paint. Lard had two blocks and three fouls in three minutes of action in his first stint of the game.

Players on both sides made big-time plays, from a Horton-Tucker poster dunk in transition to a Nick Norton bullet pass to Anthony Murphy for a layup on the fast break. 

Iowa State led 67-63 at the under-4 timeout, and closed the game out with a 21-7 extended run over the final 8:15 of game time. 

Iowa State moves to 9-2 on the season.