The leadership of junior forward Milan Momcilovic and senior forward Joshua Jefferson led the No. 4 Cyclones to a 91-60 home victory against Long Beach State on Sunday.
“The leadership that we’ve been fortunate to have with guys like Tamin [Lipsey], Cade Kelderman and [Nate] Heise and Milan [Momcilovic] and Joshua [Jefferson] who have pride in this program, they set the tone for the things that we do every single day,” Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger said.
Iowa State’s 31-point victory marked the Cyclones’ third time in program history at 12-0, as the team established a 37-point advantage within the first 20 minutes on the court.
The continuously evolving lead started after the jump, with junior forward Blake Buchanan making the first basket of the night, with a layup to get the Cyclones on the board.
Buchanan continued his drive with a second-chance tip-in dunk, then made a shot from behind the charity strip to give the Cyclones a 5-2 lead. From then on, Iowa State found its offensive momentum and went on a 15-0 scoring drive.
Finding strength in all areas of the court, Momcilovic led in the first half with 16 points, after shooting 5-for-5 from the field and making all four shots from deep. Alongside the shots from deep, Jefferson found his momentum within the paint as he went 6-for-7 from the field and secured 15 points.
“Any shot’s a good shot,” Momcilovic said. “I really haven’t taken a whole lot of crazy ones quite yet. I’ve took more of those in practice. So I still think there’s another level, but I’m shooting well right now, so I’m gonna stay with the open ones.”
Iowa State shot 75% from deep in the first half, 68.8% from the field and seven players secured a basket to their name to gain a 57-20 lead.
Despite Long Beach State changing its defensive stance and securing seven steals in the second half compared to its original three in the first and four blocks, Iowa State was still able to control the court and put away another 34 points to lead the game for the whole 40 minutes on the court.
Momcilovic ended the night 7-for-9 from deep and secured a team high of 27 points. Finding his usual comfortable position from behind the arc, Momcilovic led Iowa State to secure 33 points from the three, with the Cyclones shooting 52%.
“Tonight they [Long Beach State] kind of left me open in the first half a couple times just in transition, then in the half-court,” Momcilovic said. “They didn’t really do anything special tonight, but as I probably move on to the Big 12, they’re going to be doing something different.”
Close behind was Jefferson, who secured a double-double with 19 points after going 8-for-13 from the field. He got 10 rebounds and surpassed 1,000 career points during his 40 minutes on the court. Jefferson led the team within the paint, contributing to the Cyclones’ shooting 55% from the lane and securing 48 points.
With 12 Cyclones finding their way on the court for at least one minute, Momcilovic and Jefferson were not the only players to have a successful night. Buchanan also secured his first double-double in cardinal and gold with 13 points after going 6-for-7 from the night and grabbing a team high 13 rebounds.
“Iowa State, they’ve done a great job with me just every day keep working, you know, getting my confidence up,” Buchanan said. “But really, it’s just keep being aggressive. I mean, a lot of those points came off offensive rebounds, so I’m kind of just getting my own points, which is awesome.”
Alongside senior guard Tamin Lipsey, who had his usual team high of seven assists, but right behind him was freshman guard Killyan Toure with a career high of six assists and seven points.
“I think we’re fortunate to have great leadership that has carried forward and then guys that make choices to want to be around each other and make that investment early on so that we’re able to have team chemistry and synergy on the court,” Otzelberger said.
All quotes are provided by the Cyclone Fanatic YouTube Channel.
