Dec. 9, 2011
AMES, Iowa — Sophomore Roy Devyn Marble had 21 points and five assists — both career-highs — for the University of Iowa men’s basketball team, but it wasn’t enough as Iowa State staved off a Hawkeye comeback bid to secure an 86-76 victory inside Hilton Coliseum.
Marble led a group of three Iowa players in double figures, finishing with 21 points on 5-of-12 shooting. The guard made 10-of-11 free throw attempts — both career-best marks – and grabbed four rebounds.
“I can’t even come up with enough superlatives to talk about how I feel about him right now,” said UI head coach Fran McCaffery. “He played a tremendous game and really competed. He got knocked to the floor about five times and he made his free throws and kept coming.”
Sophomore Melsahn Basabe finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, connecting on 7-of-12 field goal attempts. Senior Matt Gatens added 11 points with three 3-pointers.
The Cyclones shot a blistering 54.9 percent (28-of-51) from the field, 8-of-19 (42.1 percent) from long range and 22-of-31 from the charity stripe. ISU also won the rebounding battle, 32-30.
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Iowa finished with a 43.6 field goal percentage, making 24-of-55 attempts, and a 46.2 (6-of-13) mark from long range. The Hawkeyes also went 22-of-25 from the free throw stripe.
After falling behind 52-28 early in the second half, Iowa began fighting back. A three point play by Marble sparked an 8-0 run to make the score 52-36. The Hawkeyes cut the deficit to 54-41 on an Eric May 3-pointer at the 14:33 mark and to 58-46 on an Aaron White three point play with 11:56 remaining.
“I was proud of the way the team battled to the end, but I was not proud of how we played in the first half,” said McCaffery. “I am really at a loss of words for what our defense has become. You can’t go on the road and give them 59.5 (percent shooting) in the first half and expect to win.
“That said, we’re down by 20 at halftime, we made some adjustments, and I thought the kids fought. We made a heck of a run at it, and that’s something to be proud of, but we can’t have that five-minute stretch in the first half that cost us the game.”
The Cyclones answered with six straight points via a Scott Christopherson 3-pointer and a three point play by Melvin Ejim to stretch the margin back to 18 with 11:21 left. Iowa managed to trim the deficit to 13 on a Zach McCabe lay-up with 7:47 left, but ISU again responded, reeling off seven straight points to build its lead to 75-55.
The Hawkeyes wouldn’t go away, outscoring Iowa State, 19-9, over the final five minutes. A Josh Oglesby 3-pointer and three-point play cut the deficit to eight points (82-74) with 32 seconds to play, but it was too little too late, as the Cyclones went on to post the 10 point victory.
Iowa jumped out to a 4-0 lead to start the game behind a Marble jumper and a McCabe lay-up before Iowa State’s Royce White went to work. The ISU forward had back-to-back dunks to even the tally at four before banking home a jumper high off the glass from the side of the basket to give the Cyclones a 6-4 advantage.
With the score tied at 11, Iowa State used a 17-4 run to take a 28-15 lead. The Cyclones, who shot a blistering 59.4 (19-of-32) percent from the floor and 54.5 (6-of-11) from 3-point range, pushed their lead to 23 points (48-25) with 18 seconds remaining in the half before taking a 48-27 advantage into the locker room.
White paced a group of five Cyclones in double figures, finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds. The forward went 7-of-7 from the floor in the first half and finished 7-of-8 from the field in the game.
The Hawkeyes (5-5) return to action on Dec. 17, hosting Drake inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena beginning at 8 p.m. (CT).