Jaren Holmes poured in 21 points and Caleb Grill added 17 as No. 12 Iowa State clamped down on defense over the final 13 minutes on the way to a 78-67 victory over No. 7 Texas on Tuesday in a Big 12 Conference dustup in Ames, Iowa.
Iowa State (14-3, 5-1 Big 12) rebounded from a two-point loss at Kansas on Saturday and won for the seventh time in its past eight games, moving into a three-way tie with Kansas and Kansas State for first place in the conference.
The Cyclones overcame a ragged start to take a one-point lead into halftime. After Texas went back in front just more than eight minutes into the second half, Iowa State produced a 15-4 run punctuated by a second-chance 3-pointer by Grill to go up 64-55 with 6:01 to play and were never seriously challenged again.
The Longhorns missed eight straight shots and went nearly nine-and-a-half minutes without a field goal in that pivotal stretch.
Gabe Kalscheur scored 16 for the Cyclones and Osun Osunniyi had 11 in the win.
Christian Bishop led the Longhorns with 12 points, with Marcus Carr scoring 11, and Tyrese Hunter and Dylan Disu scoring 10 each for Texas (15-3, 4-2), whose three-game winning streak was snapped.
The Longhorns, and especially Hunter, started the game with a flurry as the former Iowa State standout scored nine points to help Texas to a 20-11 lead at the 12:17 mark of the first half. The lead was expanded to 11 points on Carr's jumper with 9:36 to play in the half before the Cyclones answered in a big way, reeling off a 15-5 run capped by a fast break layup by Jaren Holmes to close to within 29-28 with 4:46 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Kalscheur a minute later tied the game at 32 and a pair of free throws by Tamin Lipsey with 3:35 knotted the game again at 34. But the rest of the half was ragged for both teams, with Texas committing turnovers on seven of its final 10 possession and the Cyclones staggering to the buzzer with only Lipsey's jumper with 1:09 to show as they took a 36-35 lead to the break.
Kalscheur and Hunter led their respective teams with 10 points each before halftime.
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