Cyclones Downed At Bradley, 65-56

Wednesday, November 14

Peoria, Ill.

7:00 PM

Iowa State

2-1, 0-0Big 12

Bradley

1-1, 0-0MVC

Iowa State

Bradley

11.14.2007 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: cyclones.com

PEORIA, Ill. ? Bradley's Daniel Ruffin had a game-high 20 points and seven rebounds to lead the Braves (1-1) past Iowa State (2-1), 65-56, Wednesday night at Carver Arena.

Rahshon Clark and Diante Garrett led the way for the Cyclones with 13 points apiece while Bryan Petersen had 12. Jiri Hubalek added eight points and six rebounds. Garrett's point total, along with three steals, set career highs. Petersen connected on four three-point attempts to give him eight treys in the last two games.

“We're never happy with losing, but we've got to pull some things out of this,” said ISU head coach Greg McDermott. “They jumped out on us, 5-0, and the crowd got into it, but we hung in there. They turned five or six of our turnovers directly into points. I really felt like we had an opportunity to take a five or 10-point lead into halftime if we were able to take better care of the ball. We're taking some baby steps, but you have to give Bradley credit. They stepped up and knocked down a lot of big shots.”

The Braves opened the first half strong, scoring the game's first five points. The Cyclones responded by outscoring the Braves, 17-8, in the minutes that followed to take a 17-13 lead.

The teams then traded 10-0 runs with the Braves taking a 23-17 lead before the Cyclones reclaimed the advantage, 27-23. The Braves closed to within one as the Cyclones took a 31-30 lead into the locker room.

The turning point in the game came when Bradley reeled off nine unanswered points to open the second half, taking the lead for good.

The Cyclones closed to within two points at 50-48 with 9:03 remaining in the second half when Jiri Hubalek grabbed an offensive rebound and connected in traffic. The bucket followed a Petersen trey on the previous Cyclone possession.

But Iowa State would get no closer. The Braves scored on back-to-back possessions to retake a seven-point lead and the Cyclones couldn't whittle the Bradley lead down to less than five points the rest of the way.

Bradley outshot the Cyclones, 50.0 percent (26-52) to 46.7 percent (21-45), from the floor. The Braves were also superb from the free throw line, connecting on 88.9 percent (8-9) to Iowa State's 70 percent (7-10).

The Cyclones return to action Tuesday when they play host to Tubby Smith's Minnesota Gophers. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Hilton Coliseum.