Saved by Morris, Ride a Cowboy

Monte Morris scored a career high 30 points and Iowa State gutted out a 96-86 victory over Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Wednesday night. The win improves ISU’s conference record to 3-1 on the season.

The Cyclones started the game hot, jumping out to a 16-6 lead early-on. They extended the lead to as much as 11 points with 11:46 left in the first half after Solomon Young cashed in on an old-fashioned three point play.

Deonte Burton picked up his second foul at the 8:54 mark when he was tagged with a charge. He would sit the remainder of the period, which ended up being a big deal for ISU as Burton had scored nine points at that point.

Oklahoma State used Burton’s absence to close the lead, finally jumping in front for the first time with 1:34 before the half on a Jeffrey Carroll 3-pointer. Both teams traded blows in the final minute and a half with the Cyclones heading into the locker room with a 1-point lead, 47-46.

The Cowboys threatened to pull away in the first 10 minutes of the second half, getting it to a 64-59 OSU lead with a dunk from Carroll at the 10:07 mark. Iowa State wouldn’t allow the lead to slip though, as they reeled it in and took the lead back with 5:55 remaining on a Monte Morris 3-pointer. Morris would nail another 3-pointer in isolation on ISU’s next possession to push the score to 75-69 Cyclones.

Iowa State increased its lead to 11 on a pair of Naz Mitrou-Long free throws with 2:02 left, but Oklahoma State’s Thomas Dziagwa hit a triple and the Cowboys were able to cut the lead to five within the last minute. That’s the closest they’d get though, as Morris and co. were able to hit their free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

Morris added five rebounds, five assists and four steals to go along with his 30-point outing — oh, and he had zero turnovers as well. Fellow guards Matt Thomas and Naz Mitrou-Long chipped in 19 and 17 points respectively. Darrell Bowie (13), Deonte Burton (12), Solomon Young (3) and Donovan Jackson (2) rounded out the scoring for ISU.

The Cyclones’ next game comes against TCU in Fort Worth on Saturday. The Horned Frogs are fresh off their first victory over Texas in Austin since the 80s. The game between ISU and TCU will tip at 4:30 p.m.

You can view the full box score from tonight’s game here.

And check out these Floyd standings...