Iowa State men use 22-0 run to overcome Oklahoma
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Oklahoma was up by 20 when Isaiah Cousins hollered at the Iowa State bench.
Cousins got a technical foul – and the Cyclones got all the motivation they needed to spark one of the best comebacks in school history.
Georges Niang had 20 of his 23 points in the second half and No. 17 Iowa State rallied from a 21-point deficit to stun No. 15 Oklahoma 77-70 on Monday night and snap a two-game losing streak.
Monte Morris had 19 points for ISU (21-8, 11-6 Big 12).
Oklahoma raced to a 19-point halftime lead. But Iowa State scored 22 straight points in just over 5 minutes – all immediately following Cousins’ technical – and outscored the Sooners 59-33 in the half.
“When someone gets up in your face and (is) telling you how they’re kicking your butt, you’re going to retaliate in some way. Luckily, we retaliated the right way,” Niang said. “That was just the push that we needed.”
Buddy Hield had 26 points for the Sooners (20-9, 11-6), who lost for just the second time in 10 games.
Oklahoma dominated the offensive glass, forced Iowa State to turn it over 10 times in 15 minutes and jumped ahead 37-18. But Cousins was whistled following a block by teammate Ryan Spangler with Oklahoma ahead 48-28 – and the Cyclones finally got going.
“What they did in the first half wasn’t likely to happen in the second half. They responded well,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. “We contributed to it, for sure.”
Morris, like Niang, took over in the second half, scoring all but two of his points.
“I thought it was really a great mental half. We needed that. We needed that in a bad way. Obviously, it was a team that was struggling,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Hopefully, this is what we need to get our confidence back to the point where we can get some momentum going into the tournament.”
• Texas trips No. 14 Baylor: In Austin, Texas, Isaiah Taylor made a tear-drop shot in the lane with 4.8 seconds remaining to give the Longhorns a 61-59 victory over the No. 14 Bears in overtime.
Texas (18-12, 7-10) ended a four-game losing streak. Baylor (22-8, 10-7) had a chance to tie, but Kenny Chery’s shot was blocked by Myles Turner with one second left.
Seven players from both teams were ejected in the overtime for leaving the bench during a brief skirmish between Taylor and Baylor’s Royce O’Neal.
• No 2 Virginia wins ACC again: Anthony Gill scored 17 points to lead four players in double figures and second-ranked Virginia won 59-47 at Syracuse (18-12, 9-8) to capture the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title for the second straight year. The Cavaliers (28-1, 16-1) are the first team other than Duke or North Carolina to repeat since North Carolina State in 1973 and ’74.
• Mason out for Auburn: Auburn guard Antoine Mason could miss the Tigers’ final two regular-season games after the death of his father, former New York Knicks forward Anthony Mason. Tigers coach Bruce Pearl said that he doesn’t believe there’s any chance Mason will play tonight at Missouri, and he could miss Saturday’s finale against Georgia.
Heat and Suns both get hot (not shooting)
NBA: Tyler Johnson scored a career-high 26 points, Goran Dragic added 21 against his former team and Miami beat Phoenix 115-98 in a game that included two third-quarter altercations.
Hassan Whiteside finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds before getting ejected for Miami, which got 16 points and nine assists from Dwyane Wade.
Eric Bledsoe scored 20 for the Suns, who got 18 points and 13 rebounds from P.J. Tucker.
The story line was supposed to be Dragic facing the club that traded him to Miami last month, amid hurt feelings on both sides.
Emotions boiled over instead. In all, there were five player technicals, three ejections and two flagrant fouls assessed in the third quarter alone, the 12 minutes of play needing 42 minutes to complete.
• Nets nip Warriors: Jarrett Jack made a tiebreaking jumper with 1.1 seconds left and Brooklyn overcame Stephen Curry’s fourth-quarter comeback attempt to beat Golden State 110-108. Curry, who had 18 of his 26 in the fourth quarter, brought the Warriors back from 10 points down with under four minutes left to tie it, but couldn’t get a final shot off after Jack’s jumper.
• Bulls’ Butler out 3 to 6 weeks: Chicago says guard Jimmy Butler will miss three to six weeks because of a sprained ligament in his left elbow and join the injured Derrick Rose on the sideline.
Toews has two goals in Blackhawks’ win
NHL: Jonathan Toews had two goals and assisted on Marian Hossa’s score as Chicago rolled to a 5-2 win over Carolina.
Brandon Saad scored his 20th to reach that mark for the first time in his career and Marcus Kruger also connected for the Blackhawks, who have won three of their last four. Toews increased his total to 21 goals.
Boise State OC goes to Notre Dame
MISCELLANY: Brian Kelly has added Boise State offensive coordinator Mike Sanford, Notre Dame career rushing leader Autry Denson, and former Irish defensive back Todd Lyght to his staff.
Sanford is the first coordinator Kelly has hired since arriving on campus in 2010 that he hadn’t worked with previously. Sanford spent the past season as offensive coordinator at Boise State, his alma mater.
He spent the previous three years as an offensive assistant at Stanford.
• It’s a New Jersey poll: UConn stayed No. 1 in the Associated Press women’s basketball poll and Notre Dame jumped over South Carolina into second. On the other end, Seton Hall re-entered at No. 25 after clinching its first Big East title. With Princeton and Rutgers both ranked it marks the first time in the history of the poll that three teams from New Jersey are all in the Top 25. California fell out.
• Jeff McKnight dies at 52 from leukemia: Jeff McKnight, a versatile player who spent six seasons with the New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles, died in Bee Branch, Arkansas, at 52.
McKnight’s family told the Mets that McKnight died after having leukemia for 10 years. His father, Jim, who briefly played for the Chicago Cubs in the early 1960s, was born in Bee Branch.