The following is a press release written by Iowa State athletic communications.
AUSTIN, Texas – The Iowa State men’s basketball team (16-8 overall, 6-5 Big 12) fell to Texas (11-13 overall, 3-8 Big 12) by a score of 89-86 in double overtime despite a 20-point, 16-rebound performance by Melvin Ejim. Ejim’s 16 rebounds were a career-high.
Iowa State had three players score over 20 points on Wednesday night, led by senior sixth man Tyrus McGee, with a game-high 21 points. Ejim and Clyburn followed with 20 points each, along with Chris Babb’s 12. It is the second 20-point performance of Ejim’s career.
With the Cyclones leading 86-85 with under a minute to go in the second overtime period, the Longhorn’s Sheldon McClellan got to the free throw line on two consecutive possessions and sunk all four free throws as Texas would hang on to win.
It was a back-and-forth game of runs early on, as the Longhorns used a 16-0 run midway through the first half to an eight point lead. The Cyclones countered with a 13-0 run of their own to take a 32-27 lead with 2:37 left in the first half. The Cyclone run was keyed by a pair of McGee treys. The Cyclones would go into the half with a 37-33 lead.
In the second half, McGee again sparked a 10-0 Cyclone run to give Iowa State a 63-57 lead with just under four minutes remaining. However, the Longhorns would fight back to close the gap to a 71-68 Cyclone lead before Loannis Papaetrou hit a three-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
The Cyclones got two big shots from Tyrus McGee and Korie Lucious in the first overtime period after falling behind 79-74 with 2:28 left on a Julien Lewis three-pointer. McGee promptly answered Lewis’ shot with a deep three of his own. Lucious then canned a jumper with 1:21 left in the game to knot the contest at 79-79. The shot would extend the game to the second overtime, where McClellan’s late free throws would ultimately be the difference.
The Cyclones will be back in action Saturday at 12:45 p.m. CST to take on TCU at Hilton Coliseum.
