AMES, Iowa – No one
stopped Iowa State from cutting down the nets this time. Jamaal Tinsley
scored 23 of his career-high 29 points in the second half and dominated
down the stretch as No. 8 Iowa State beat Nebraska 86-73 Saturday
to win the Big 12 championship outright for the second straight year.
The Cyclones (25-4, 13-3)
clinched the title at Baylor last season and security guards prevented
them from snipping the nets. On Saturday, nothing got in the way of
the celebration.
The Iowa State players
donned their championship caps, hoisted the Big 12 trophy and cut
the nets as fans saluted coach Larry Eustachy with chants of "We
love Larry" and confetti fluttered onto the court.
"Just look at the
teams below us in our conference," Eustachy said. "You're
talking about a major, major powerhouse conference. We've been on
top of this league twice in the past two years. It's staggering."
Iowa State (25-4, 13-3),
which trailed by 10 points in the first half, used a 35-9 edge in
free throws to offset Nebraska's 54 percent shooting and won for the
36th straight time at Hilton Coliseum.
But Nebraska (14-15, 7-9)
gave the Cyclones a scare on Senior Day despite playing without center
Kimani Ffriend, who injured his right knee in practice Friday and
watched from the bench with his leg immobilized.
Ffriend averages 14.1 points,
8.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks and is one of the league's best defenders.
"I think they all
tried to do what they could," Nebraska coach Barry Collier said.
"We tried to get them all to play a little harder and do a little
more so we could cover in there."
The Cornhuskers got a solid
game inside from Steffon Bradford, who had 10 points and seven rebounds.
Kevin Augustine, averaging 3.7 points, came through with 16, including
three 3-pointers.
But it wasn't enough to
offset Tinsley's inspired play in his final home game.
"Basically, the whole
team jumped on his back and he carried us to the finish line,"
Iowa State's Martin Rancik said.
Tinsley made two free throws
to break a 59-59 tie, hit a pull-up jumper and stole the ball from
Augustine to set up two free throws by Kantrail Horton. That made
it 65-59 with 8:29 left and Iowa State led the rest of the way.
The Cornhuskers drew to
72-69 on a drive by Cookie Belcher, who led Nebraska with 25 points.
Then Tinsley, whose previous best had been 26 points, turned the game
into his own personal showcase, scoring 10 of Iowa State's next 12
points.
He hit a 3-pointer from
the far right wing and followed that with two driving shots for an
80-69 lead. Tinsley got fouled while scoring on a final drive and
hit the free throw to make it 85-72, then left the game to a standing
ovation with 31 seconds remaining.
"I haven't seen every
game that's ever been played here," Eustachy said, "but
I don't know who in the history of Iowa State has impacted winning
more than Jamaal Tinsley. He's Secretariat. He's a thoroughbred."
Iowa State is 57-9 in Tinsley's
two seasons. He also had five assists, five steals, two blocks and
only one turnover. Horton added 17 points, Rancik scored 13 _ all
on free throws _ and Paul Shirley had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Iowa State finished 35-of-43
at the line, while Nebraska was 9-for-17. The Cornhuskers committed
31 fouls and 19 turnovers.
"They killed us at
the line," Belcher said. "We put them there too much."
Nebraska ran off 13 straight
points to take a 20-10 lead and never let the Cyclones get ahead until
Rancik hit two free throws with 10:12 remaining.
Bradford's basket inside
gave the Cornhuskers 50-44 lead with 14:22 remaining, and they led
for the final time at 58-57 on Augustine's 3 with 10:02 left.
"I thought all year
we caught everybody's best shot and that was a big punch by them,"
Eustachy said. "At times, I didn't know if we were going to be
able to get it done."
Tinsley made sure they
did.
Source: University of Nebraska Sports Information
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