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BOX SCORE
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- All-American Marcus Fizer was angry. Not about his dismal first-half performance, but about an encounter with a female fan on his way to the Metrodome.
Fizer, who made only one basket in the first half, led a
second-half surge Saturday that carried second-seeded Iowa State to
a 79-60 victory over seventh-seeded Auburn in the Midwest Regional.
A woman recognized Fizer from a magazine article and photo and approached him.
|  | | Marcus Fizer's 22 points powered Iowa State into the Sweet 16. |
"So, you're what all the whoop and hollering is about?" she asked.
"And I said, 'No, it's about our team,' " Fizer recounted,
furrowing his brow even at the recollection.
The Tigers certainly saw Fizer as the Cyclones' main attraction, hounding him relentlessly until his supporting cast of Jamaal Tinsley, Stevie Johnson and Michael Nurse made them pay for it.
"Continue to play us this way, because Mike and Jamaal and
Stevie and our team will continue to light it up," said Fizer, who
was held without a field goal for the first 17 minutes but finished
with 22 points after Auburn was forced to abandon its relentless
zone and double-teams.
Johnson scored 21 points, Nurse had 14 and Tinsley added 12 to
help the Cyclones (31-5) reach the final 16.
The Cyclones, who won the school's first regular-season
conference title in 55 years and set a school record for victories
after being picked to finish dead-last in the Big 12, used a 19-4
run midway through the second half to secure the trip to next
week's regional semifinals in Auburn Hills, Mich.
"It feels great to prove to the people that we're better than
what they expected," Kantrail Horton said.
The Tigers, who squeaked past Creighton 72-69 in the first
round, were up 41-38 five minutes into the second half.
At 43-43, Tinsley took over, sinking back-to-back, twirling 3s
from the corner that sparked the big run, and the Cyclones never
trailed again.
"I gave it a `What the heck ... good shot!"' Cyclones coach
Larry Eustachy said. "Obviously, the two 3-pointers were the
turning point. He hit the toughest shot in basketball two times in
a row. For a guy that spins the ball like `As the World Turns,'
that's amazing."
The Tigers (24-10) couldn't counter.
"I thought defensively we had kept the game at a tempo we
wanted to play at," Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said. "Then, a guy
who's an 18-percent 3-point shooter steps up and hits two. The
momentum changed right there."
Tigers guard Daymeon Fishback called Tinsley's 3s "tremendous
back-breakers for us."
With Fizer still struggling to get into rhythm, Tinsley said he
knew it was up to him: "Someone else has to take his role if he's
not scoring."
Fizer scored half of his 22 points after Tinsley's back-to-back 3s.
"It's all because my teammates stepped up and made them play honest," Fizer said.
The Cyclones were still clinging to a single-digit lead when
Fizer, who also pulled down 12 rebounds, scored three straight
baskets to put Iowa State ahead 63-49.
With Fizer, the player of the year in the Big 12, struggling in
the first half, Auburn took a 33-32 lead. The Tigers stifled the
junior forward with a smothering zone that put two men on him in
the low post and also limited Tinsley's penetrations.
In man defense, Fizer was alternately hounded by 7-foot center
Mamadou N'diaye and sophomore forward Mack McGadney, who replaced
Chris Porter after the star forward was ruled ineligible last month
for accepting money from an agent's middleman.
Fizer went to the bench with his second foul 48 seconds before
halftime and Eustachy had to holler at him to chill out when he
jumped up in the waning seconds to argue an official's call.
Ellis said the zone fell apart when the Tigers quit scoring -- they shot 27 percent after a 51-percent first half.
"If you're not making shots, you can't zone," he said. "In
the first half, when we were making shots, the game plan was
perfect.
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