Nader, McKay Lift No. 9 ISU To Win Over KSU, 77-71

Tuesday, January 20

Ames, Iowa

6:00 PM

Iowa State

14-3, 4-1Big 12

Kansas State

11-8, 4-2Big 12

Team	1	2	F
Kansas State	38	33	71
Iowa State	39	38	77

Nader, McKay Lift No. 9 ISU To Win Over KSU, 77-71

01.20.2015 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: cyclones.com

AMES, Iowa – No. 9 Iowa State (14-3, 4-1 Big 12) survived a scare Tuesday night, defeating Kansas State (11-8, 4-2 Big 12), 77-71 in Hilton Coliseum in a see-saw contest. The game featured 10 ties and 11 lead changes.

KSU's Marcus Foster gave the Wildcats a 69-67 lead with 4:00 minutes remaining. After that, it was all Cyclones, as ISU scored 10-straight points and held KSU scoreless until a meaningless basket in the final seconds.

The Cyclones were led by their usual suspects, but received a huge lift from their bench. Jameel McKay tied his career with 15 points and Abdel Nader chipped in with 11 points, nine of them coming in the second period, including a stretch of seven-straight points to keep the Cyclones close. The duo had all 26 bench points for the Cyclones.

McKay added a team-high seven rebounds and blocked three shots in the victory.

How it happened…
Kansas State posted the early lead at 17-12 before the Cyclones got going. A quick 7-0 run by ISU put the home team ahead 19-17 after Naz Long hit a 3-pointer.

The Cyclones held their largest lead of the first half at 36-29 with 3:12 remaining after Georges Niang scored on a drive. However, the Wildcats rattled off nine-straight points in less than three minutes to move ahead 38-36 with less than a minute remaining.

Foster, who was held in check in the first 15 minutes, got hot, burying two jumpers and draining a pair of free-throws to score seven points in the run. Niang gave ISU the lead at the break (39-38), however, by hitting a trey in the final minute.

KSU grabbed a 54-49 lead behind a 10-1 run early in the second half. Nader lifted ISU briefly by scoring seven-straight points to give ISU the lead at 58-56, but a Gipson bucket and a Foster trey pushed the Wildcats back out in front 61-58 with 9:10 remaining.

Naz Long tied the game at 61-61 with a 3-pointer at the 8:54 mark. After that, there were seven ties or lead changes until Long put ISU up for good at 71-69 with a pair of free-throws with 2:42 left. Monte' Morris then hit a runner to increase the ISU lead to 73-69 with 0:37 seconds left.

ISU made 8-of-10 free-throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

The #cyclONEgameball goes to…
Abdel Nader. Abdel Nader's spark from the bench proved to be the difference. Nader scored 11 points, including nine in the second half. ISU was down 56-51 with 12:30 left in the game until Nader scored seven-straight points to give the Cyclones the lead. He had another big bucket with 6:45 left to end an ISU drought and came up with a big block on a KSU fast break to keep ISU out in front.

Next Up
The Cyclones travel to Texas Tech on Saturday (Jan. 24). Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. CT on ESPNU.

Game Notes
*ISU is 56-4 in Hilton Coliseum the last four seasons.
*ISU has won 17-straight games at home.
*ISU is 4-1 to begin Big 12 play for the first time since 2000.
*ISU has won six of the last eight meetings vs. Kansas State.
*Georges Niang tallied 14 points, his 66th double-digit scoring game of his career.
*Niang made two 3-pointers tonight. He now has 107 in his career to rank 13th all-time in school history.
*Jameel McKay registered three blocks. McKay has two or more blocks in each of his last seven games, recording 22 in that span.
*McKay was in double figures in scoring for the fourth time in his career with a career-high-tying 15 points.
*Abdel Nader registered his third double-digit scoring game of the season with 11 points.
*ISU is 13-0 when leading at the half this season.
*ISU is 11-0 this season when outrebounding its opponent.
*ISU set a season high in second chance points with 24.