Feb 28, 2024; Ames, Iowa, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Demarion Watson (4) dunks against the Oklahoma Sooners during the second half at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports
AMES — When no one else could hit a shot, Iowa State sophomore Demarion Watson responded.
When the No. 8 Cyclones needed an offensive rebound, Watson came through.
And on a night where ISU looked out of sorts offensively in myriad ways, Watson delivered countless times to help the Cyclones eventually surge to a 58-45 triumph over Oklahoma before a sold-out crowd of 14,267 at Hilton Coliseum.
“We didn’t have a lot of energy in the first half, so I thought it was just my job to bring energy to the group and do what I do best,” said Watson, who scored a career-high 15 points on 7-for-7 shooting to help ISU (22-6, 11-4 Big 12) improve to 17-0 at home this season. “Defensively, be that stopper guy on the team (and) lock up, and then offensively, keep it simple: cut, get offensive rebounds and just play my game and stay confident in what I do.”
Watson scored all of his 15 points in the second half as the cold-shooting Cyclones stretched a five-point halftime lead into a 16-point advantage. He also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, with four coming on the offensive end of the floor.
“(He) was a difference maker,” Sooners head coach Porter Moser said of Watson, who nearly doubled his previous career high in points (7). “I thought he gave them a tremendous lift. I remember vividly (as we) we’re trying to claw and make some kind of run to get it to single digits and then he hit that 3 from the corner. So I thought he was a huge spark for them.”
That critical 3-pointer came after Oklahoma (19-9, 7-8) had cut its deficit to 10, at 49-39, with 4:26 left. Cyclone leading scorer Keshon Gilbert found Watson open in the corner 25 seconds later and he calmly drilled the long-range basket — and he’s now 2-for-2 from 3-point range this season.
But Watson’s previous five baskets came on well-executed cuts or after his own offensive rebounds.
“He consistently defended, he consistently rebounded, he consistently cut and finished,” said ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger, whose team remains one game behind first-place Houston in the conference standings. “And now your confidence is just — you keep putting positives in the ledger and building it up. And so when that shot shows up, you’ve got a sense of confidence like, ‘I should make this. I’ve earned this. I’ve worked for this.’ That’s where I’m really proud of him because it wasn’t his first shot. It wasn’t him just trying something out. It was him saying, ‘You know what? I’m feeling good tonight and I should feel good because I’m doing all these positive things.”
All of which made him the “difference maker” as the Cyclones avenged a 71-63 loss to Oklahoma in Norman. ISU’s starters were a combined 7-for-38 from the field (18.4 percent) and its top two scorers this season — Gilbert and fellow guard Tamin Lipsey — were a combined 4 of 24 (16.6 percent).
“It was ugly, but we were able to string together stops, which is something that we’ve been continuing to do as conference play goes out,” said backup guard Curtis Jones, who reached double figures in scoring (11) for a team-leading 12th straight game. “So I think that’s what got us through that stress.”
Several of those stops came after the Cyclones trailed the Sooners, 20-16, with 6:03 left in the first half. ISU closed the half with a 9-0 run fueled by four points off turnovers and never trailed again.
“It was kind of like one of those old-fashioned, like, let’s just win this thing with our defense and the offense will come at some point,” Otzelberger said. “It did a little bit more, but I think it was our best 40-minute defensive effort of the season.”
And a breakthrough moment for Watson, which could portend more to come.
“It got to a point where in the second half we really couldn’t have him out of the game because he was doing so many winning things,” Otzelberger said. “It’s great to see guys stay ready.”
