Arizona’s bruising forward Tobe Awaka couldn’t miss.
Iowa State’s sharpshooting guard Curtis Jones couldn’t hit.
But when push came to shove in Monday’s tense late-night matchup at the McKale Memorial Center in Tucson, the home team mustered the energy to shove much more strongly via a stunning buzzer-beating halfcourt shot that forced overtime and changed the game.
Final: The Wildcats 86, the No. 3 Cyclones, 75.
The upshot: Surging Arizona (14-6, 8-1) finished strong to stay within one game of Big 12 leader Houston in the standings — and ISU (17-3, 7-2) dropped two games back.
The Wildcats’ Caleb Love drilled that 55-footer to force overtime. The Cyclones committed a season-high 18 turnovers.
“We expect these types of battles in this league,” ISU head coach T.J. Otzelberger said on the Cyclone Radio Network after the game. “We’ve found ways in most c ases to claw, fight and come away with a win. That didn’t happen tonight, and now it’s time to go back (to) regroup and use it as we move foeqard to be better from it.”
Tamin Lipsey led ISU with 18 points — 14 of which came in the first half. Keshon Gilbert scored 17 points — 15 of which came in the second half. Joshua Jefferson added 15 points — 13 of which came in the second half.
Love notched 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half and overtime. Awaka scored 17 points on 6-for-6 field goal shooting. He also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds while his team limited Jones to 1-for-9 field goal shooting.
The Cyclones controlled most of the first half, leading by as many as seven points, at 25-18.
But the Wildcats quickly reversed their fortunes with a stunning 16-0 run that gave them a 34-25 lead.
ISU responded, however, with an interior bucket by Jefferson, and Lipsey’s third 3-pointer of the first half to score the final five points and trail by just four, 34-30, at the break.
“Our guys were resilient tonight,” Otzelberger said. “Their togetherness, the compettive spirit they played with for one another, how hard they played in a very physical game — I told them in the locker room, from an effort, and attitude, and fight, and compete standpoint, we left it all out there. And we should feel great about that.”
Lipsey — who’s playing through a thumb injury — kept the Cyclones afloat in the first half, scoring 14 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Arizona held Jones and Gilbert to two points apiece in the opening 20 minutes. They shot a combined 1-for-10 from the field. Jones was coming off a career-high 33-point performance in the Cyclones’ 76-61 win at Arizona State, but the Wildcats made a lot his looks difficult — as they did for most of ISU’s players. The Cyclones shot just 31 percent from the field in the first half, and were outscored 9-to-8 in points off turnovers, and 9-to-6 in fast break points.
ISU has trailed at halftime in five of its six road games this season, but rebounded to win in four (or five) of those matchups. Monday’s challenge proved too steep for the Cyclones, however, who hope to rebound on Saturday against Kansas State at home before a Big Monday trip to Allen Fieldhouse to face the 11th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks.
“We’ll get some rest and we’ll be prepared,” Otzelberger said. “We’ll have a great week of practice going into that and be ready to go and be at our best on Saturday.”
