March 7, 2009
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IOWA CITY, Iowa – An inside game and an outside game. The University of Iowa had both Saturday and it proved to be the difference in a 75-67 double-overtime victory over Penn State before 14,000-plus inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Senior Day.
In the paint was Cyrus Tate – one of two seniors that were honored pre-game – and Jarryd Cole. The pair combined for 29 points and 21 rebounds.
On the perimeter, it was Jake Kelly and Matt Gatens. Together, they contributed 34 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists.
The game was a thing of beauty for Coach Todd Lickliter after a season filled with frustration. So much so that Iowa’s second-year head coach found room for a little post-game levity.
“Cyrus said he wasn’t done playing in Carver,” Lickliter told the Hawkeye Radio Network’s Gary Dolphin during his post-game radio show. “So, we let `em tie at regulation and tie it again after the first overtime.”
If only it were that simple. The Hawkeyes scratched and clawed their way to a nine-point lead when Gatens drove the right lane for a lay-up that put the score at 51-42 with 2:41 to play. The Hawkeyes needed a lay-up from Cole with 10 seconds left on the clock to send it into overtime tied at 56-all.
Five minutes later, the game was tied at 64-all and the ball was being tossed for the second extra session.
The Hawkeyes used a Kelly banked-in three-pointer with 55 seconds left to grab a 71-67 lead. A pair of free throws by Gaten and Cole down the stretch gave Iowa the victory, its 15th of the season and fifth in Big Ten play.
Kelly paced the Hawkeyes with 22 points on eight-of-16 shooting from the field. Tate added 15, Cole 14 and Gatens, 12. Iowa shot 47 percent for the game and 33 percent from behind the arc.
Cole led the squad with 11 rebounds. Tate grabbed 10 and Gatens six. Kelly also had 11 assists.
Iowa will now turn its attention to the 2009 Big Ten Tournament. The Hawkeyes will play on Thursday in Indianapolis.