AMES, Iowa – It was vintage Hilton Magic with the nation watching.
No. 6 Iowa State (23-3, 10-3 Big 12) rallied from a double-digit deficit and outscored No. 2 Houston (23-3, 11-2 Big 12) 17-4 in the final seven minutes in a massive 70-67 victory Monday night in Hilton Coliseum.
The top-10 teams traded punches all night in one of the best games of the season, but big plays down the stretch from Nate Heise and Jamarion Batemon helped the Cyclones remain unbeaten at home (15-0) and notch their 15th top-10 win in the last five seasons.
When Kingston Flemings, who led all players with 22 players, hit a 3-pointer to put UH up by 10 points with seven minutes remaining, things looked bleak for the Cyclones.
But a 10-0 rally by ISU tied the score with Batemon burying a big 3-pointer to get it started. Moments later, Batemon gave ISU the lead back at 66-65 with another huge 3-pointer with 2:03 remaining.
UH briefly regained the lead before a Heise corner trey gave the Cyclones the lead (69-67) for good with 1:10 left in the game.
A pair of defensive stops and a Tamin Lipsey offensive board with a second left after a Blake Buchanan missed free-throw secured the win.
The Cyclones, who committed just three turnovers against one of the nation’s toughest defensive teams, missed their first nine 3-pointers of the second half before Batemon and Heise knocked them down late.
Lipsey finished the game with nine points and a team-high eight boards, including three offensive caroms. Joshua Jefferson led the Cyclones with 12 points and tallied a team-high five assists.
The first half was a back-and-forth period of rallies.
Kelvin Sampson took a quick timeout at the 16:22 mark after ISU rattled off 11-straight points to take a 13-5 lead. A trio of 3-pointers from Milan Momcilovic, Jefferson and Killyan Toure got the Hilton crowd into an early frenzy.
The Cougars bounced right back with a 16-4 run behind a stretch of five-straight makes to go ahead 26-21 with 9:50 left in the first half. The Cougars couldn’t miss, knocking down shots from all over the court with a trio of 3s from Emanuel Sharp.
Next it was the Cyclones’ turn. Heise hit a pair of 3-pointers and Lipsey had four points in a 13-4 Cyclone run, as ISU led 34-30 with under four minutes remaining before the break.
A Lipsey jumper with 30 seconds left allowed ISU to go into intermission with a 43-40 lead.
ISU went cold in the first part of the second half, helping the Cougars retake the lead at 51-47 when Isiah Harwell canned a corner 3-pointer. The UH lead increased to 58-49 with 10:48 left when Flemings took over with three buckets, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Flemings’ fourth trey of the game increased the lead to double digits (63-53) with seven minutes remaining before ISU’s furious finish.
Nate Heise came to play in one of the biggest games of the season. Heise scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds against the taller Cougars. But it was his outside shooting that saved the day, connecting on all three of his 3-point attempts, none bigger than a bomb from the corner that was essentially the game-winner with 1:10 left in the game.
Iowa State’s schedule doesn’t get any easier, traveling to No. 23 BYU on Saturday (Feb. 21). Tipoff is set for 9:30 p.m., Cyclones Pre Game at 8:30 on KSOM
