In the season opener against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff (UAPB) Golden Lions, Iowa State found itself behind right from the start, with UAPB taking an early 14-2 lead.

The first half momentum stayed with UAPB, as it walked into the break with a 37-34 lead.

And then the second half came for Iowa State.

Iowa State outscored UAPB 26-8 in the first 10 minutes of the second half, which led to it winning the game 80-63, starting the season off with a win.

“Obviously it was a tough start but I’m glad of the way that the guys responded,” Iowa State Head Coach Steve Prohm said. “I knew the zone [defense UAPB was playing] would bother us a little bit.”

Iowa State overcame UAPB’s zone defense in the second half and won Sunday’s game 80-63, but victory didn’t seem certain after Iowa State fell behind 10-0 in the first four minutes of the game.

“In the second half I thought we did a really good job of moving the ball, attacking [the hoop] more, being more efficient against the zone,” Prohm said.

In the second half, Iowa State shot much more efficiently, shooting 59.4 percent (19 for 32) from the field and 57.1 percent from beyond the 3-point line (8 for 14).

To begin the second half, Iowa State outscored UAPB 26-8 in the first 10 minutes of the second half and had a 60-45 lead with less than 10 minutes left to play.

Twenty-four of the 26 points scored in that run came from either junior guards Rasir Bolton and Tyler Harris or senior guard Jalen Coleman-Lands. 

UAPB didn’t mount a comeback and Iowa State won 80-63.

Coleman-Lands said they had to get the jitters out and get back to playing their way.

“It was that mentality that we had in the first half [when Iowa State cut its deficit from 12 to one] of knowing what we need to fix, getting those jitters out and locking in to being us,” Coleman-Lands said. “That was kind of our motto in the second half, getting back out there and being ourselves.”

Harris got the Cyclones’ offense going in the second half, with three made 3-pointers on three attempts, which helped the Cyclones get a 55-44 lead with 11:39 left in the game.

Harris, along with Bolton and Coleman-Lands, lifted the Cyclone offense in the second half. Bolton, Harris and Coleman-Lands shot 12 for 15 from the field in the second half and six for 9 from 3-point range.

In the second half, Iowa State’s offense caught fire, scoring 46 points on 19-32 shooting from the field and 8-14 from 3-point range.

Thirty-two out of those 46 points scored in the second half came from Bolton, Coleman-Lands and Harris.

Coleman-Lands led all scorers with 17, while Bolton had a team-high seven assists (five in the second half) to go along with seven rebounds and Harris had 14 points.

All three of them made at least half of their shots.

Coleman-Lands made seven out of 14 (three for nine from 3-point range) shots, Bolton made seven out of 11 (two for five from 3-point range) and Harris made five out of 10 (four for eight from 3-point range).

While Bolton, Coleman-Lands and Harris had an efficient shooting percentage in the second half, the same can’t be said for the first half.

“We’re down 12-2 early and we could’ve all gave in and quit, but we fought,” Bolton said. 

Iowa State cut its deficit to one after outscoring UAPB 14-3 in a six-minute span, but Iowa State couldn’t capture the lead.

UAPB led 37-34 at halftime and led for the entire first half. 

In the first half, Iowa State shot 38.2 percent from the field (13-34) and 22.2 percent from beyond the 3-point line (4-18). 

While over half of Iowa State’s shots in the first half came from beyond the 3-point line, less than 20 percent of UAPB’s shots were 3-point attempts. 

UAPB took 27 shots in the first half, five of which were 3-point attempts.

At halftime, UAPB had a 51.9 shooting percentage from the field and made 13 for 22 on 2-point shots.

Prohm said his team let the Lions catch the ball anywhere they wanted to, they weren’t fronting the post and the Golden Lions hurt them on back cuts. 

Bolton and freshman guard Darlinstone Dubar led Iowa State in scoring with seven points each.

In the second half, the Golden Lions shot 11 for 29 (37.9 percent) from the field and two for nine (.222 percent) from beyond the 3-point line.

The Golden Lions were outscored 46-26 in the second half.