Field Level Media
Nov 24, 2021
Izaiah Brockington scored a career-high 30 points to lead Iowa State to an 82-70 upset victory over No. 25 Xavier in the NIT Tip-Off in Brooklyn.
Brockington gave the Cyclones (5-0) their biggest lead at 79-64 with 4:11 remaining as he hit his second consecutive 3-pointer. Brockington scored 23 second-half points and converted 12-of-19 shots from the field and 4-of-6 3-pointers.
Tyrese Hunter added 19 points and Gabe Kalscheur chipped in with 12 points and five rebounds.
Xavier (4-1) made just 3 of 21 attempts from beyond the arc after it sank 14-of-31 against Norfolk State Sunday. Adam Kunkle, the team's third-leading scorer at 11.3 points off the bench, missed the game due to an illness.
Jack Nunge led Xavier with a career-high 24 points and Colby Jones had 11 and Dwon Odom had 10.
Trailing 39-38 to begin the second half, Iowa State sprinted out to a 9-0 run, hitting four of the half's first five shots.
The Cyclones took their biggest lead at 62-48 on Brockington's jumper with 12:31 left. He scored 13 of their first 24 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
Nunge's dunk in the closing minute gave Xavier the lead at intermission. Nunge came off the bench to lead the Musketeers in that half with 11 points. Jones added eight points and six rebounds.
Hunter paced the Cyclones with 11 points at the half. He drained four of his first eight 3-point attempts to account for 11 of the Cyclones' first 18 points. Brockington had all of his seven points in the final 3:47.
Xavier took its first lead of the game on Nunge's putback to cap a 12-2 run at the 4:32 mark of the opening half.
Iowa State stormed out to an early 10-3 lead behind George Conditt's six points in the paint. Xavier struggled, as the Musketeers hit only one of their first six attempts from the field.
The Cyclones built a 17-7 advantage on Gabe Kalescheur's pair of free throws with 12:36 left before halftime.
Xavier closed to within 24-18 on Jones' jumper, but Hunter drained his second consecutive three to push the lead back to 27-18.
Iowa State will meet No. 9 Memphis, which beat Virginia Tech 69-61 Wednesday, in the championship on Friday.
--Field Level Media