Iowa State Edges Tulsa in Puerto Rico Tip-Off Semifinals, 80-78

Friday, November 17

Conway, S.C.

6 PM

Tulsa

2-2

Iowa State

2-2

Iowa State

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Iowa State Edges Tulsa in Puerto Rico Tip-Off Semifinals, 80-78

11/17/2017 9:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score (.pdf) | Updated Season Stats (.pdf)

CONWAY, S.C — Junior Etou scored a game-high 25 points, including 19 in the second half to help fuel a 14-0 run, but Iowa State held on for an 80-78 win on Friday night in the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach.

With the setback, the Golden Hurricane (2-2) will face Illinois State (1-2) in the third-place game at 4 p.m. CT on Sunday. The contest will be televised on ESPNU.

Etou scored his 25 points on just nine shots as he went 7-for-9, including a pair of 3-pointers, to go along with nine free throws and seven rebounds. DaQuan Jeffries went 9-of-10 from the floor, 4-of-4 behind the arc, for a career-high 23 points, while Sterling Taplin added 13 points.

TU shot 50.9-percent for the game, which included a blistering 65.4-percent (17-of-26) in the second half. For the second straight contest, the Golden Hurricane outscored its competition in the paint, 40-24.

Donovan Jackson paced the Cyclones (2-2) with 24 points and Nick Weiler-Babb added a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds. Iowa State hit 12 3-pointers and held a 37-32 edge on the glass.

The Cyclones pushed a nine-point halftime lead to 16, 64-48, on a pair of Weiler-Babb free throws with 10 minutes to play before the TU rally started.

Etou scored eight points during the team's 14-0 run that set the stage for a wild final five minutes. Jeffries added a jumper and a 3-pointer during the spurt and two freebies from Etou capped the run and sliced the deficit to 64-62 with just 4:58 on the clock.

However, Jackson and Weiler-Babb responded with baskets to make it a six-point game and Weiler-Babb's three-point play with 2:28 left extended the Cyclones' cushion back to 72-66.

TU would not go away as Jeffries drained another 3-pointer and Taplin drove in for a bucket that cut the Iowa State lead to 72-71.

But again the Cylcones responded with a basket, this time a banked-in 17-footer from Jakolby Long with 49 seconds left that gave Iowa State some breathing room at 74-71. TU would cut it to 78-76 with seven seconds left on a three-point play from Jeffries, but Jackson made two free throws on the other end to make it a two possession game.

Taplin drove in for a layup at the buzzer that made the final score 80-78.

Tulsa started the night hot by hitting five of its first seven shots, including three 3-pointers for a 13-7 advantage. Taplin, Jeffries and Curran Scott all connected from behind the arc in the early minutes before Iowa State took its first lead, 19-18, with nine minutes left in the half.

Scott quickly got the lead back for TU with a layup and Jeffries added another triple before Darien Jackson drove in for two to make it 25-22 with 6:45 on the clock.

However, Long caught fire over the final 5:18 of the period and scored 15 of Iowa State's last 17 points to lift the Cyclones to a 39-30 cushion at halftime. The sophomore hit four 3-pointers down the stretch to help ISU outscore TU 17-5.