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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
AMES, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa State's Marcus Fizer was almost perfect
against Nebraska. So was his team.
Fizer made all but one of his shots in scoring 23 points and Iowa State (No. 21 ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 17 AP) blew away Nebraska with a huge second-half run in an 87-65 victory Saturday night.
|  | | Iowa State's Brandon Hawkins jumps past Nebraska's defense. |
Iowa State (21-3 overall, 9-1 Big 12) built an early 15-point
lead, faltered slightly and fell behind, then regrouped and broke
it open to stay tied with Oklahoma State for first place in the
conference.
"This was a game that worried me," Iowa State coach Larry
Eustachy said. "They are a very talented team and were capable of
coming in here and beating us.
"I always say it's tough to keep coming out and throwing your A
game out there for 30-something games. I'm really pleased with the
second half."
Nebraska (10-13, 3-7) lost for the fourth time in five games and
is 0-5 on the road in the Big 12. The Cornhuskers have been
outscored in those games by an average of 19 points.
They were close for a while in this one, however, trailing by
just three early in the second half. Then Iowa State kicked into a
high gear and outscored the Cornhuskers 29-5 over the next six
minutes.
"I'm pretty sure their coach came down on them in the locker
room just by the way they came out and pressured us and said hey,
these guys shouldn't be playing with us at home," Nebraska's
Rodney Fields said.
"We didn't sustain the pressure, kind of broke down a little,
one thing led to another and before you know, we were down by
double digits."
The Cyclones finished their run with 17 straight points to open
a 70-43 lead, a burst that featured two sensational fast breaks in
a 31-second span. Jamaal Tinsley fed Fizer for a two-handed dunk to
finish the first one and Tinsley hit Stevie Johnson for a layup on
the second one.
Michael Nurse hit two 3-pointers and scored nine points during
the run. He finished with 19. Fizer had eight points and finished
9-for-10 from the field. His only miss was an attempted tip-in,
which he followed with a tip that went in.
He sat out the last 11 minutes, leaving with Iowa State ahead
72-45.
"Fizer is just a tremendous player in all aspects," Nebraska
coach Danny Nee said. "Each year that I've seen him, the man just
improves. Right now he is playing at an MVP-type level."
Brandon Hawkins' high arching jumper in the lane gave Iowa State
its biggest lead, 82-51, with 7:18 left. Hawkins scored 10 points
and Kantrail Horton had 13.
Larry Florence led Nebraska with 16 points, Danny Walker scored
11 and Steffon Bradford 10. Nebraska committed 22 turnovers, 13 on
Iowa State steals.
"We had to limit their shots in the second half," Fizer said.
"They shot 50 percent in the first half and we knew we had to come
back and play better defense and rebound better to win."
Iowa State bolted to an 18-3 lead as Horton scored seven points
and Nebraska missed nine of its first 10 shots. But the Cornhuskers
settled down and came back with a 21-5 run that ended with
3-pointers by Fields, Walker and Louis Truscott for a 26-25 lead.
Nebraska led 30-28 before Iowa State finished the half with a
10-4 run to go up 38-34. It was 41-38 when Nurse hit a 3-pointer to
start the decisive burst and Nebraska came unglued.
The Cornhuskers went 11 possessions without scoring during one
stretch, missing four shots and committing seven turnovers.
"The early start was fantastic," Eustachy said. "The last 10
minutes of the first half were very poor by our team, then we had a
nice second half. What happened was we got a little complacent. We
didn't play as hard as the opponent and the opponent had a lot to
do with it."
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Nebraska Clubhouse
Iowa State Clubhouse
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