West Virginia Mountaineers vs Iowa State Cyclones Match Player Stats On Mar 03, 2020

Miles McBride scored 17 points, including four free throws in the final 16 seconds, as visiting West Virginia overcame horrendous second-half shooting to defeat Iowa State 77-71 on Tuesday in Big 12 Conference play in Ames, Iowa.

West Virginia led by 13 at halftime but missed 10 of its first 11 shots in the second half as the Cyclones swept to the front, at 56-52, on two free throws by Rasir Bolton with 9:30 to play.

But the Mountaineers mounted a 14-4 run, with Oscar Tshiebwe's three-point play with 3:10 remaining and Jermaine Haley's jumper at the 2:47 mark granting West Virginia a 70-60 lead.

Iowa State mounted a late push, pulling to within 73-70 with 47 seconds left. Bolton then made just one of two free throw chances with 23.7 seconds remaining before McBride canned our late free throws for West Virginia to cement the win.

The Mountaineers were just 7 of 25 (28 percent) from the floor after halftime but made 18 of 21 free throws in the second half.

Derek Culver scored 17 points and grabbed 9 rebounds for West Virginia (20-10, 8-9), with Taz Sherman adding 12 and Tshiebwe hitting for 11 points for the Mountaineers, who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Bolton led all scorers with 21 points while Prentiss Nixon added 19 for the Cyclones (12-18, 5-12). Iowa State has lost four of its past five games.

West Virginia, which has struggled to shoot consistently this season, found the range with regularity in the first half, hitting 20 of its 36 shots (56 percent) and took a 44-31 lead into intermission.

The Mountaineers made five of the final six shots of the half, with Culver leading the way with 14 points over the first 20 minutes.

Michael Jacobson paced the Cyclones with 9 points in the half.

Iowa State hit its first three shots of the second half and clawed back to within 44-40 at the 17:31 mark. West Virginia went scoreless for the first 5:43 after halftime and didn't hit a shot from the floor until 12:59 remained in the game.

--Field Level Media