Iowa State Downs Texas 77-71 In League Opener

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AMES, Iowa - Chris Babb tallied 17 points and made five of Iowa State's 10 3-pointers to help the Cyclones knock off Texas 77-71 in the Big 12 Conference opener Wednesday night in Hilton Coliseum.

The win ended Iowa State's seven-game losing skid to the Longhorns, earning its first victory over UT since February 5, 2005. It was ISU's first Big 12-home-opening victory since 2006, as the Cyclones improve to 11-3 on the year and 1-0 in Big 12 play.

Babb was one of five Cyclones to score in double figures, as Royce White added 14 points and six rebounds.

The Cyclones were hot from the beginning, going up by as many as 14 points (39-25) with 2:40 left before the break. An 8-0 run gave the Cyclones their largest lead in the opening period, as Chris Allen and Anthony Booker each hit a trey in the run.

A 7-0 run by UT cut the lead to 39-32 with 1:03 remaining in the first, but Booker hit another three, his third of the first half, to help ISU go into the break with a 44-34 lead.

The Cyclones were 9-of-12 from 3-point range in the first half, as Chris Babb drilled 4-of-5 treys in the first 20 minutes to help him break out of his shooting slump. Babb was 7-of-40 from 3-point range in his six games prior.

Iowa State's 10-point lead quickly evaporated, as the Longhorns scored the first 10 points of the second-half in just under three minutes to knot the game at 44-44. Melvin Ejim finally ended the drought with a basket to make it 46-44 Iowa State with 16:50 remaining in the game.

The Cyclone lead was 46-45 before a big 14-2 run to regain control of the game. Ejim tallied a pair of baskets and Babb nailed a trey from the corner to put ISU back up 60-47 with under 12 minutes to play.

ISU's lead reached 15 points (66-51) at the 10:42 mark, but the Longhorns again started to chip away, mounting a 10-0 run capped off by a Julien Lewis 3-pointer to close the gap to 66-61. Scott Christopherson ended the run with a reverse lay-up to put the Cyclones back up 68-61 with 7:06 left in the game.

Both teams struggled to score down the stretch, as the Cyclones made just one field goal in the final 7:04 minutes of the game. UT eventually closed the margin to four points (73-69) on a Jonathan Holmes trey with :44 seconds left.

Booker came off the bench to tally 11 points and he was 4-for-4 from the field. Ejim registered a team-high nine rebounds. The Cyclones shot above 50 percent (51.1 pct.) for the fifth time this season, the first team to shoot 50 percent against the Longhorns all year.

Iowa State returns to action Saturday at 3 p.m. with a visit to Texas A&M.

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Team Stats

Chris Babb

Royce White

Chris Allen

Scott Christopherson

Players Mentioned

Chris Allen

Chris Allen

Chris Babb

Chris Babb

Chris Babb

Anthony Booker

Anthony Booker

Anthony Booker

Scott Christopherson

Scott Christopherson

Melvin Ejim

Melvin Ejim

Melvin Ejim

Royce White

Royce White

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