No. 5 Iowa State looked to rebound from its devastating loss to No. 4 Auburn that sent it to the loser’s side of the bracket in the Maui Invitational.
Behind a second-half push from guards Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones, the Cyclones escaped a close game against Dayton 89-84 Tuesday night.
Dayton catches fire in the first half
Following the second-half collapse to No. 4 Auburn, the Cyclones looked to flush out the 16-point lead they gave away to the Tigers in their matchup against the Flyers.
However, Dayton came in after suffering a similar fate, as they blew a 21-point lead to No. 12 North Carolina that resulted in the Flyers facing Iowa State in the loser’s side of the bracket.
So coming into this matchup, both teams looked to move past their woes and get back to the winning side of things Tuesday night.
As the game progressed in the first half, fortune favored Dayton, as they went on to take a 41-37 lead. This lead was added to by an early 10-0 run, an 8-0 run later in the half, all combined with a 63.6% field goal percentage.
While the Flyers didn’t take many 3-pointers in the first half, as they went 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. They found a way to make consistent shots to give Dayton the early lead into the second half.
As for the Cyclones, they improved upon their second-half performance against the Tigers, but it wasn’t enough to stop the efficient Flyers shooting.
Iowa State’s defense has been known to hold opposing offenses to poor shooting percentages in the past but could not find a way to halt the Dayton offense in the first half.
Gilbert and forward Milan Momcilovic led the Cyclones with 10 points at the half, with Momcilovic scoring all 10 of his points consecutively for Iowa State.
Gilbert, Jones will Iowa State to a close win
After being down by four points to start the second half, the Cyclones looked for a spark to help overcome the deficit and pull out a victory to avoid playing in the seventh-place matchup against No. 2 UConn.
While Iowa State wasn’t able to jump out to any big runs to sneak past the Flyers, the Cyclones still found a way to take advantage of their opportunities en route to a five-point win.
Like Dayton in the first half, Iowa State caught fire on the offensive end in the second half, as it completed 60% of its field goal attempts while making 20 of its 22 free throw attempts.
To compare, the Cyclones only attempted seven free throws in the first half, in which they made five.
Gilbert led the charge not only in the second half but throughout the entire game, as he had gotten half of his points from the charity stripe. He finished with a team-high 24 points on six-of-eight shooting while going 12-of-14 from the free throw line.
Along with Gilbert came the breakout of Jones.
Jones made the only two 3-pointers for Iowa State in the second half, as he scored 14 of his 19 total points during this half on 4-of-7 shooting, 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
Even despite the Cyclones getting into foul trouble themselves, with guard Tamin Lipsey fouling out of the game and Gilbert and Jones having three fouls, Iowa State still found a way to eke out a key win to avoid a second consecutive loss.
Cyclones to face Big 12 foe in fifth-place game
Iowa State has one final game of this rough three-game Maui Invitational, as the Cyclones will take on the Colorado Buffaloes in the fifth-place game Wednesday.
Colorado, who rejoined the Big 12 this season following the collapse of the Pac-12, was the only other team besides Iowa State that competed in the Maui Invitational from the Big 12 conference.
Although they started on the other side of the bracket, the Buffaloes found a way to compete against the only other Big 12 team to finish out this three-game stretch.
In its first-round matchup on Monday, Colorado fell to Michigan State by a score of 72-56 after giving up 40 points from the Spartans bench.
After their loss, the Buffaloes took on No. 2 UConn after the Huskies were upset by the guard Tyrese Hunter led Memphis Tigers on Monday.
But after being down by eight points at the half, Colorado found a way to stun UConn in the final moments, as a basket by forward Andrej Jakimovski with eight seconds left sealed the deal for the Buffaloes 73-72.
Now, Colorado and Iowa State will face off for the fifth-place finish in this Maui Invitational tournament, even despite being scheduled to play each other to start the Big 12 conference schedule on Dec. 30 in Boulder.
The Buffaloes will be led by guard Julian Hammond III and center Elijah Malone, who have scored at least 14 points in both games in Maui for Colorado.
Iowa State will finish off this Maui Invitational against Colorado at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Lahaina Civic Center. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
