Arizona disturbs third-ranked Iowa State in OT

On By Littum

Arizona is not typically known for its sharp shooting, but with the third ranked Iowa state seconds away from victory in regulation, burned wildcat’s fire and disturbed the cyclones on Monday in Tucson, Ariz.

Wildcats shot 6-of-25 (24.0%) from deep in the first 39 minutes and 58 seconds of the game, but Caleb Love’s half-course, Summer-Beating Heave tied the game and gave Arizona new life to force overtime.

Wildcats rode the momentum and never missed out over the arch overtime and closed the competition on an 11-0 race to beat Iowa State, 86-75.

Love hit a three-pointer to set up wildcats with two with 3:40 back, and it seemed to be the last shot that Arizona would do for the rest of the game. Iowa State’s narrowing defense gave Wildcat’s passes, but Love’s Desperate 50-Foot Heave expanded the game after a back and forth the second half.

Iowa State was unable to follow Arizona in overtime. Keshon Gilbert hit a layup to open overtime scoring, but a couple of Curtis Jones -Frispark was Iowa State only other points in the extra period.

Tamin Lipsey led cyclones with 18 points and four rebounds. Joshua Jefferson had 15 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Jefferson had an opportunity to ite the game before Love’s game bonding, but he went 1-for-2 from the free-casting line to keep it a three-point game.

Gilbert had 17 points and six rebounds. Dishon Jackson tiled in a 10-point, 10-bound double-double with two steals and two blocks.

Love ended with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-22 shooting. Tobe Awaka was a strength for wildcats and ended with a 17-point, 12-bound double-double. He had four offensive rebounds in the winning effort. Carter Bryant came from the bench and had 14 points, including a 4-of-5 clip from long range. KJ Lewis also had 14 points. Jaden Bradley had nine points, five rebounds, six assists and seven steals.

Iowa State came out with a stubborn defensive effort to start the game to keep the McKal Center quantity in check and held wildcats for 4-of-17 on the floor for the first 12 minutes of the game.

The cyclones were also cold to start offensively, but kept a modest lead throughout this stretch.

Jackson had another chance bucket to trigger a 7-0 race for Iowa State, which was topped by a Demarion Watson-Three Pointer to give cyclones a 25-18 lead with 5:22 back.

Arizona called Time Out and answered with a 16-0 race to take the lead. Bradley and Bryant knocked back-to-back triangles to send the home crowd into a madness. Bradley eventually topped the scoring wave with a tip-in basket to put wildcats ahead, 34-25, with 1:05 back in the first half.

Iowa State was able to get a few baskets back to trim the deficit down before the break, where Jefferson broke the race with a basket, then Lipsey hit a Summer-Beater to make it a 34-30 deficit on the way into the break .

Cyclones started the second half by shooting a burning 9-of-11 out of the break. They briefly caught the lead, but it was a back and forth match for the rest of the game until Arizona pulled away in overtime.

Iowa State fell to 17-3 overall and 7-2 in Big 12 conference games. Arizona is 14-6 and 8-1.

Cyclones will return home to their next match on Saturday against Kansas State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. 13.00.

Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State Athletics for Des Moine’s register. Contact Eugene [email protected]. Follow him On Twitter on @Erapay5.