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No. 7 Okla. State Tops Iowa State 83-75

Posted on: Friday, 12 March 2004, 06:00 CST

DALLAS - John Lucas III hit a short jumper, then a wide-open 3-pointer, starting a 13-4 run that broke open a tie game late in the second half and sent No. 7 Oklahoma State past Iowa State 83-75 in the second round of the Big 12 tournament.

The top-seeded Cowboys (25-3) were up 12 early in the second half, then turned sloppy, including a traveling call on Tony Allen when he tried to dribble behind his back on a 3-on-1 fast break.

The Cyclones (17-12) capitalized, tying it at 59 on a thunderous dunk by Marcus Jefferson off a perfect floating alley-oop pass from Will Blalock.

Oklahoma State quickly regained the lead when Allen stole an inbounds pass and fed Lucas on the baseline for an easy bucket. ISU's Jackson Vroman missed two chances for another tie, then dove to steal the ball from Lucas on the other end. He missed, leaving Lucas uncontested behind the arc.

Jake Sullivan hit a 3-pointer that got the Cyclones within 64-62 with about six minutes left, but the Cowboys stretched the lead to nine behind two nice layups in traffic by Ivan McFarlin and a pull-up jumper by Lucas. Iowa State was never closer than five again.

Oklahoma State ended a three-game losing streak at the conference tournament, and gave coach Eddie Sutton a nice 68th birthday present. Next up for the Cowboys is a semifinal Saturday against the winner of Colorado and Texas Tech.

Joey Graham made 11-of-13 shots for 25 points for the Cowboys. He picked up his fourth foul with eight minutes left, just before ISU tied it, but remained on the court and did not foul out. He also had nine rebounds.

Lucas had 23 points and Allen added 14 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. McFarlin scored 12.

Vroman led the Cyclones with 24 points before fouling out. He also had 10 rebounds. Sullivan scored 19, and Jared Homan had 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Iowa State will return to Ames hoping its first season under coach Wayne Morgan isn't over yet. The Cyclones' best chance of making a tournament is the NIT.

While they weren't able to avenge their only home loss in 16 games this season, which might've helped them catch the attention of the NCAA selection committee, their second-half rally kept them from repeating their 21-point loss to the Cowboys last month.

For Oklahoma State, the victory preserved its bid to become the first Big 12 regular-season champ to win the postseason tournament since Iowa State in 2000.

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