DESMOINESREGISTER.COM: ISU men's basketball: Brackins leads Cyclones' rally over Colorado
This entry was posted on 2/2/2010 9:20 AM and is filed under Boys Basketball News.
Below is an article reprinted from the Des Moines Register
ISU men's basketball: Brackins leads Cyclones' rally over Colorado
By Randy Peterson January 30, 2010
Ames, Ia. — <:od><:od>Craig Brackins saved the day for an Iowa State basketball team desperately needing a win Saturday night at Hilton Coliseum, and then nearly threw it away — with an assist from teammate Diante Garrett.
The junior’s second half of 22 points and 10 rebounds during a 64-63 win against Colorado could have gone for naught after airballing an inbounds pass in the Buffaloes’ end of the court with 9 seconds to play.
Colorado got the overthrown pass, but Marcus Relphorde’s well-guarded shot missed at the buzzer and Iowa State finally ended a three-game losing streak.
“Diante faked me out,” Brackins said. “He was cutting. He pointed back, and then he came forward. He tried to fake out the opponent, but he faked me out.”
Brackins scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as Iowa State’s records improved to 2-4 in the Big 12 Conference and 13-8 overall after handing Colorado its 33rd conference road loss in a row.
As good as Brackins was, center Justin Hamilton had the stat line of the night — with 10 points, 12 rebounds and five of the Cyclones’ 12 blocked shots.
“If Ham didn’t show up today, it would have been terrible,” Brackins said. “I was feeding off his energy.”
Just a night’s work, Hamilton said.
“Our team came out flat,” he said. “I was trying to do the best I could to spark us, especially in the beginning.”
That’s when Iowa State started flat again.
Colorado led 31-25 at the end of a sloppy first half that included just one Cyclone field goal in the last 6½ minutes, and no Buffalo points in the last 2½.
Iowa State trailed 12-2 after the first six minutes. That happens when you miss 11 of your first 12 shots. It’s a Cyclone trend — they trailed by 21 points during the first half last Wednesday against Oklahoma before rallying within a possession twice in the final 1½.
“We have to figure it out,” coach Greg McDermott said. “We have to make some changes or we have to just value the basketball.
“We had six turnovers on our first 12 possessions and we were down 15-4. It’s a replay of what happened at Oklahoma.”
Only this time, the Cyclones won.
“Man, it was a must,” Brackins said. “We knew that.”
The Cyclones’ second half started like the first as Colorado built its six-point lead to eight. Eventually it became 39-all on a short shot by Brackins with 12:23 to play, and then 41-39 Iowa State on a layup by Garrett.
The Cyclones led 54-50 with 5:24 left when Brackins stole a pass, handed off to Garrett and then finished the play with a basket following Garrett’s assist.
Colorado closed with 60-58 with 1:33 to play. Hamilton made one of two free throws as the Cyclones led 61-58 with 1:01 left. Cory Higgins pulled Colorado within 64-63 on a layup with 16 seconds remaining and before the hold-your-breath ending.
“It was a tough scramble situation,” McDermott said. “Diante made the cardinal sin of faking a cut in that situation, but our guys matched up just like we do in practice.”
