AMES — The Cyclones pieced together a perfect performance on both sides of the ball to take down Lindenwood 102-47 and secure their second win of the season.

The dominant night started from the first possession. As Tamin Lipsey secured the tip-off, he got the gears turning on offense.

Lipsey lobbed the ball up right away to a waiting Hason Ward who slammed it home. Hilton exploded as Iowa State started the scoring off on a powerful note.

“The lob is sometimes there, sometimes not,” Lipsey said. “Obviously, it was there tonight, so I threw it up, and he’s gonna go make a play every time.”

However, it was not all smooth sailing from there.

Cyclones survive early scare

Halfway through the first half, Lindenwood started settling down. The Cyclones could not get anything to fall consistently on offense and started turning the ball over more.

Lindenwood cut into Iowa State’s lead to bring it to single digits. The Lions pieced together a run of 10 points to Iowa State’s two. In just four minutes, Lindenwood was outscoring Iowa State by a considerable margin.

“I would love to see us play 40 minutes complete,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “I felt like we had five or six minutes there where we kinda stalled out offensively and were just a little bit stagnant.”

The Cyclones needed to stop the bleeding.

Milan Momcilovic was the Cyclone who provided the Band-Aid. Momcilovic caught a pass in the corner and buried a three to turn the tide for Iowa State.

Immediately after, Lindenwood attempted another run. The Lions cut the lead back to eight.

However, it was Keshon Gilbert’s time to shine, as he buried a corner three to start Iowa State’s run.

“We’ve gotta continue to play one possession at a time. I know that sounds cliche, but we’ve just gotta focus on the task at hand,” Otzelberger said.

From that point on, it was Iowa State who dominated on offense and shut down Lindenwood at every turn.

Offense fires on all calibers

From the jump, Iowa State looked improved on offense. Despite some rough waters in the middle of the first half, the Cyclones scored with ease on most possessions.

Balls were falling from beyond the arc, players were driving to the rim and drawing fouls and big dunks were igniting the crowd.

The man who led the charge on offense was Lipsey, who distributed chances to every Cyclone.

The most impactful area of offense that got the momentum rolling was the big-time dunks that got the crowd on its feet. Ward started the trend, while players like Tre King and Demarion Watson followed.

“We’re a very good team when we play in the paint and score in the paint,” King said.

Early in the first half, Lindenwood was hot on Iowa State’s heels. As the Lions looked to get things rolling on offense, King decided it was time to put a stop to it.

King ripped the ball out of a Lindenwood player’s hands and fed a pass down the court to Watson for a dunk.

Later in the game King got a pair of dunks himself. Each time he slammed the ball through the rim, Hilton exploded, giving the Cyclones energy to keep the scoring rolling.

Throughout the night, Iowa State was dominant around the rim. Players were finding ways to get to the rim and get the ball in the basket. Of Iowa State’s 102 points, 52 were in the paint.

“That’s pretty good. Fifty-two is good,” Otzelberger said.

Dominating the paint also helped create opportunities on the edges for more scoring plays.

“That’s one thing that coach really emphasized this game. You really want to get things in the paint, get the offense moving through the paint and get the defense shifted, so all the opportunities on the perimeter, the shots and the layups came that way,” King said.

Not only that, the Cyclones were dominant again from beyond the arc, with Momcilovic leading the way.

Early in the first half Momcilovic did what he does best and drilled a catch-and-shoot three. Shortly after, he showed his skills from midrange by knocking down a pair of fadeaway shots.

Curtis Jones followed Momcilovic’s lead by drilling a deep three halfway through the first half. After missing all five of his 3-point attempts against Green Bay, Jones nailed his first attempt against Lindenwood.

Jones also tacked on five steals along with his nine points to end the night.

“We really do it all, and you’ve seen that tonight with [Jones],” Lipsey said. “I think he had four steals in like a minute.”

All the success on offense stemmed from one player: Lipsey.

Lipsey dominated the game on offense, especially in the first half. Not only was he distributing the ball with ease, but he was scoring from everywhere on the court.

Lipsey ended the game with 21 points while tacking on seven assists and three rebounds.

By the end of the game, four Cyclones ended in double figures.

Suffocating defense

Lindenwood was struggling to get anything going on offense the entire night. Wherever a Lion was, a Cyclone was there to stop them.

Lindenwood could not get shots off over Iowa State’s big defenders. Every time the Lions attempted to put up a shot, an Iowa State defender was in their face.

“The greatest teams have pride on both sides of the ball,” King said.

Lindenwood ended the first half shooting 4-for-15 from beyond the arc. That fourth 3-pointer the Lions made in the first half was the last one made in nearly an entire half. The Lions’ next 3-pointer did not come until more than halfway through the second half.

Along with the Cyclones’ strong presence from three, they also shut down most other shots on the court. Lindenwood was shooting 30% from the field at the half, which fell to nearly 25% by the end of the game.

With time ticking down in the second half, Lindenwood still had not hit the 30-point mark. The Lions finally hit 30 with 12 minutes left in the game, but by then, Iowa State’s lead was too big.

“I think it’s just a really good focus defensively being in the right spot and having their hands active,” Otzelberger said.

The Cyclones had more than double Lindenwood’s points thanks to the explosive offense and lockdown defense. By the end of the game, the Cyclones were leading by more points than Lindenwood had scored.

The Cyclones were not just stopping shots from hitting; they were disrupting plays before they even happened. Throughout the game, blocks and steals were coming with ease for every Cyclone.

“Our guys did a great job today locking in personnel-wise, keeping our body in front,” Otzelberger said.

Eight Cyclones ended the game with steals, with Jones leading the pack with five and King close behind with four.

The Cyclones also ended with five blocks on the team. Ward led the charge with two blocks and two steals.

As a team, the Cyclones secured 19 steals, with 12 coming in the second half. In all, Iowa State forced 35 turnovers throughout the night.

“Just how aggressive we are on defense and on offense is something that’s truly special,” Lipsey said.

With the strong presence on both ends of the court, the Cyclones made quick work of Lindenwood, securing a 102-47 win to stay perfect on the season.