DES MOINES, Iowa — With 15.3 seconds left, Monté Morris stood on the baseline of Wells Fargo Arena, ready to inbound the ball.

No. 5 Iowa State (9-1, 0-0 Big 12) was down 80-79 to Northern Iowa (7-3, 0-0 MVC) in the finale of the Big 4 Classic, and had its shot to win the game.

Morris inbounded the ball and an isolation play to Georges Niang ensued. But then, Niang was on the ground, and UNI guard Wes Washpun was headed the other way.

“Coach drew up a play to get me isolated at the top of the key,” Niang said. “It was a good play. I lost my footing, and I tripped and fell.”

Washpun was then fouled and split his two free throw attempts. Morris quickly brought the ball down the court with just seconds left. He attacked to the baseline, and floated the ball up towards the hoop.

But it was off the mark. Iowa State suffered their first loss of the year, falling to UNI 81-79.

“We all have to get better, that’s just a part of the process,” Prohm said. “We got beat by a good basketball team. Defensively in the first half our ball screen coverage wasn’t good. We did a better job in the second half, held them to 35 points and put ourselves in a position to win.”

Iowa State’s problems started early on Saturday night — mainly on the defensive end.

UNI shot more than 65 percent from the field and went 8-of-13 from behind the three-point line. While the Cyclones were able to dominate inside the paint, their inability to guard the perimeter led them to a 46-37 deficit after the first half.

“The three point line really hurt us,” Prohm said. “We’ll get better from it. We’ll adjust a little bit on our coverage on how we want to guard it, and we’ll get better.”

The Panthers didn’t let up in the second half, either, keeping their hot shooting from the first half rolling. But with just more than eight minutes left in the game, Iowa State went on a quick 8-0 run to put it right back in the game.

While they bounced back and forth throughout the rest of the game, the Cyclones weren’t able to pull out the win.

UNI finished the game shooting 58 percent from the field and more than 59 percent from behind the three-point line, something Niang wasn’t  happy with.

“Obviously [our defense] wasn’t acceptable,” Niang said. “We basically were giving some guys things, but that’s something that we’re working on and looking to adjust. Obviously we can’t have a team shoot 58 percent from the field and expect to win.”

Washpun finished the game with 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Panthers in his 39 minutes on the court Saturday. Paul Jesperson dropped 21 points — all of which came from behind the arc.

Washpun’s big day was reminiscent of his performance against then-No. 1 North Carolina nearly one month ago. Washpun finished that game with 22 points, leading the Panthers to their first upset win of the season.

While some may say today’s game puts Washpun’s name amongst the nation’s top point guards, he doesn’t see it that way. He’s just happy with the final score.

“I’m just happy we got the team win,” Washpun said. “To be honest, I don’t feel like I sent a message either way. I’m just glad me and my teammates were able to get this win against a top-five team in the country.”

The Cyclones will have a short turnaround before they take the court again, as they will take on Cincinnati on the road Tuesday night.

And while the previously undefeated Cyclones are clearly down, Prohm said he is determined not to let this loss carry over.

“Everybody’s down,” Prohm said. “I’m down. I want to win. I want to win every game. None of us have lost a lot of games. But I understand that I can’t go nuts … it’s just not my personality. I’m going to go to work, and be ready for Cincinnati.”