Cyclones too much for GSU

Ron Hunter said Iowa State was the best team he’d faced since becoming the coach at Georgia State four years ago. The Cyclones showed it over the final 16 minutes on Monday.

Monte Morris scored 12 of his career-high 19 points in the second half to lead five in double figures as No. 14 Iowa State pulled away from Georgia State for an 81-58 victory in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at Hilton Coliseum.

Iowa State (2-0) led by six points at halftime, but Morris, a sophomore guard, had a lay up off a feed from Naz Long, then Long drained a 3-pointer and it was a 40-29 cushion. That forced Hunter to burn a time out just a minute and a half into the second.

Morris picked up one of his nine assists on a lay up by Bryce Dejean-Jones and it was a 42-29 game before R.J. Hunter hit a pull-up jumper and assisted on two other buckets as GSU (1-1) went on an 8-2 spurt to get within 44-37.

The Atlanta school wouldn’t get any closer.

Long hit one of his five 3-pointers, part of a 17-point night, and Morris added a 3-pointer of his own during a 24-7 run and the Cyclones led 68-44 with 8:20 left to play.

Iowa State, a Sweet 16 team a year ago, handed out 23 assists (Jones had a career-high-tying seven) and in the second half shot 55 percent (17-of-31) from the field.

“This is a really, really good team, this is a final four team,” Ron Hunter said of Iowa State prior to Monday’s game. “They’re talented, they’re extremely well-coached.”

It was a much closer opening half and Iowa State held just a one-point cushion at 28-27 after a bucket by Hunter. But the Panthers made just one more field goal over the final four and a half minutes, while Iowa State closed the half on a 7-2 run and led 35-29 at the break.

Rockdale graduate Kevin Ware had a quiet game, collecting just four points on 1-of-6 shooting, though he did score GSU’s first points two and a half minutes in after grabbing a defensive rebound and finishing a coast-to-coast lay up. Ware later handed out a pair of assists, including one on Hunter’s 3-pointer that pulled GSU to within 20-19 at the 8:17 mark. Thirty seconds later, Georgia State took its first lead of the game at 21-20 on a Markus Crider dunk. That was the start of an up-and-down stretch for Crider, who scored six straight GSU points, including a tough tip-in, but also picked up his third foul and had to sit out the remainder of the half.

GSU’s last lead of the night came on a Ryan Harrow pass to Crider for a jumper. The Cyclones took the lead for good one possession later on a bucket by Georges Niang (10 points, 11 rebounds).

Harrow struggled all night from the field, finishing 6-of-22 from the field, though the senior guard scored 12 points. Hunter led all scorers with 21 points.

Dustin Hogue scored 15 points for the Cyclones, who won their 22nd consecutive non-conference home game. GSU dropped their sixth straight to a ranked team and fell to 0-9 all-time against current Big 12 schools.