No. 14 Iowa State fends off comeback bid, defeats Texas

Field Level Media|published: Tue 6th February, 22:26 2024

Feb 6, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns forward Dylan Disu (1) shoots over Iowa State Cyclones forward Hason Ward (24) during the first half at Moody Center. credits: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

Milan Momcilovic scored 13 points and Tamin Lipsey hit a clutch 3-pointer as No. 14 Iowa State held off Texas 70-65 on Tuesday in their Big 12 matchup in Austin, Texas.

The Cyclones (17-5, 6-3 Big 12) set the tone early, led by 17 points at halftime and 49-31 with 12:53 left to play. Texas battled back to within eight points on Dylan Disu's three-point play with 6:20 remaining, and then to 62-57 on a the second of consecutive 3-pointers by Disu with 3:40 left.

Disu then canned a pair of free throws to cut the Longhorns' deficit to three. Momcilovic went one of two from the line and Lipsey's 3-pointer push the Iowa State lead to 66-59 with 1:39 left.

Texas rallied to within three points on two occasions down the stretch, but the Cyclones made free throws to finish off the game.

Lipsey finished with 12 points and Curtis Jones 11 in the Cyclones' balanced attack. Eight of the nine players that saw the court for Iowa State scored at least five points.

Disu hit for 28 points to lead all scorers, with Max Abmas netting 13, all in the second half, and Dillon Mitchell 10 for Texas (15-8, 4-6).

The Cyclones ruled the game's first six minutes, scoring 16 of the first 20 points, capped by a jumper by Lipsey.

Iowa State built its lead to 20-7 on a dunk by Robert Jones at 9:35 mark of the first half. The Longhorns made just four of their first 16 from the floor and missed all five of their shots from beyond the arc in that early stretch.

Tre King scored the final five points of the half on a jumper and a 3-pointer, the latter with 51 seconds remaining, to produce Iowa State's largest lead to that point, 36-19, at the break.

Momcilovic paced all scorers with eight points before halftime while Disu's six points led Texas.

Abmas scored the first five points of the second half from the free-throw line to shrink the Texas deficit to a dozen points. Iowa State rebuilt its margin on free throws and with the help of a technical foul on Longhorns' coach Rodney Terry.

—Field Level Media

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