Iowa St. earns 20th win, holds off Kansas St. late, 74-73

Feb 26, 2022, 10:44 pm

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- — Caleb Grill hit 6 of 10 from 3-point range to score 18 points off the Iowa State bench, and Izaiah Brockington added 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds as the Cyclones held off a late rally to edge Kansas State, 74-73 on Saturday to earn their 20th win of the season.

Iowa State has now won four straight games after losing to the Wildcats at home, 75-69 on Feb. 12.

The Cyclones held a two-point lead at intermission, 37-35, and Kansas State tied the game less than a minute into the second half on a 3-pointer by Nijel Pack. After a Pack jumper got the Wildcats within one, 42-41 with more than 15 minutes left, Iowa State went on a 16-2 run to take a 15-point lead with 12 minutes to play.

Mike McGuirl and Mark Smith sparked a 12-0 run with back-to-back 3s to cut the deficit to three points, and after Tyrese Hunter hit one of two from the free-throw line, Pack hit a jumper to make it 59-57 with 5:39 left. Robert Jones scored on a layup, and Brockington and Hunter each added two free throws to push the lead to 10 points.

Markquis Nowell hit 11 of 12 free throws in the final 3:14 and Pack hit a 3 with a second left to set the final score.

Hunter hit 8 of 10 from the free-throw line and contributed 13 points with 10 assists and three steals for Iowa State (20-9, 7-9 Big 12). The Cyclones hit 23 of 52 from the field (44.2%), including 10 of 25 from long range, but Grill was the lone shooter to hit more than one from distance.

Pack finished with 32 points, his third game with 30 or more, and hit 6 of 9 from behind the arc. Nowell hit 14 of 16 free throws to add 16 points. Mark Smith added 12 points and nine rebounds.

With two games left in the regular season, Iowa State is in fifth place in the Big 12 Conference standings, one game ahead of TCU. Kansas State is tied with Oklahoma State for seventh. The Big 12 Conference tournament opens on March 9 with the No. 8 seed facing the No. 9 seed.

Iowa State faces Oklahoma State on Wednesday at home and ends the regular season Saturday at No. 10 Baylor. Kansas State travels to Lubbock to face No. 9 Texas Tech on Monday and hosts Oklahoma Saturday in the regular-season finale.

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