AMES, Iowa—Iowa State’s win over Colorado brought the Cyclones back to .500 in the Big 12. If they want to stay there, they might have to do it without sophomore star Wesley Johnson.
Craig Brackins and Jiri Hubalek each scored 10 points and Iowa State beat Colorado 57-41 on Tuesday night to snap a two-game losing streak.
Reserve guard Sean Haluska added a career-high nine points for the Cyclones (13-8, 3-3 Big 12), who outscored Colorado 42-19 in the second half and held the Buffaloes to a season low for points.
Colorado (9-11, 1-5), which has lost four straight, went without a field goal for the final 10:04 and scored their fewest points since they lost to Texas 78-35 in the 2000 Big 12 tournament.
Iowa State’s ninth straight win at home could be a costly one. Johnson, the Cyclones’ leading scorer, left midway through the first half and is out indefinitely, according to Iowa State coach Greg McDermott.
Johnson missed the first four games of the season with a bone bruise in his left foot. McDermott said that Johnson appeared to re-aggravate that injury when he came down on a Colorado player’s foot. Iowa State is far less potent offensively without Johnson, who averaged 19.2 points in his first five Big 12 games.
“A lot is going to depend on how he feels the next day or two. But it appears to be the same injury as before,” McDermott said of Johnson.
The Cyclones rallied without him, pulling away from Colorado (9-11, 1-5) down the stretch. Haluska hit a 3 and Diante Garrett hit a layup—drawing Richard Roby’s fifth foul in the process—to help Iowa State jump ahead 47-39 with 4:04 left. Haluska and Bryan Petersen added runners that pushed the lead to 52-41 with 1:34 to go.
Haluska and Cameron Lee, two guards who rarely see big minutes, played a combined 47 against the Buffaloes. They scored 15 points and, more importantly, turned the ball over just twice.
“I thought our guys stuck to the plan and stayed disciplined. We made a few adjustments at halftime on the offensive end and the guys made the right read,” McDermott said.
Roby had 13 points for the Buffaloes. Colorado had just 19 points in the second half, on 5-of-21 shooting from the field.
Iowa State opened the second half on a 13-3 run, highlighted by an acrobatic one-handed dunk from Brackins, to take a 28-25 lead. The Cyclones matched their first-half point total, a season-low 15, just seven minutes into the second half.
“They came out with a little bit of fire under their bellies and we didn’t,” Roby said. “We thought they were going to lay down and they didn’t.”
Both teams were sloppy in the opening half. Iowa State struggled against Colorado’s press, which allowed the Buffaloes to jump out to an early lead. Things only got worse for the Cyclones after Johnson headed to the locker room, as they went scoreless over the final 4:44 of the first half.
Colorado wasn’t much better, committing nine turnovers against just two assists in the opening half. Still, the Buffaloes took a 22-15 lead into the break on a jumper by Roby just before the buzzer.
Iowa State has now beaten Colorado in 16 of their last 17 meetings in Ames. Guard Marcus Hall had nine points and nine boards for the Buffaloes, who crumbled in the second half against the depleted Cyclones.
Colorado’s Marcus King-Stockton said the Buffaloes didn’t fight hard enough defensively in the second half. Indeed, the runners by Peterson and Haluska—two players who rarely get points inside the paint—were troubling for a team battling to stay in the game down the stretch.
“Our issues aren’t basketball related. This has been a pattern,” Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “Part of my job is to change the culture, and the culture is not good right now.”
McDermott was singing a different tune after the game. Despite losing his best scorer, McDermott was thrilled that the players behind Johnson stepped up and gave the Cyclones a lift.
“This is about as proud of a team I’ve ever been in victory, just the way we stuck with it,” McDermott said. “We stood around a lot in the first half, wondering how we were going to play without Wes. But our defense was good enough to give us a chance.”
