LAIE -- BYU held Iowa State's leading scorer, Martin Rancik, to only seven points Friday but Cyclone coach Larry Eustachy had some good fortune sitting on his bench. Seldom-used freshman point guard Zach Fortune scored 10 points in 12 minutes to help No. 26 Iowa State hold off the Cougars 77-71 at the Yahoo! Sports Invitational in Laie, Hawaii.
The Cougars and Cyclones each had big runs during the game but in the end Iowa State and Fortune made more big shots to earn the chance to play for the Yahoo! Sports Invitational title.
"Big games are won or lost on big shots," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said. "We had some wide open looks down the stretch but their guy (Fortune) made big shots and we didn't. I'm not disappointed with our effort. We competed the entire game. We're getting better as a team."
Senior Mekeli Wesley led BYU to a 31-29 half-time edge with 15 points in the first 20 minutes. The Cougars took their biggest lead at 39-33 several minutes into the final half before a huge 18-0 Cyclone scoring run seemed to bury the Cougar hopes. But BYU fought back with its own 20-8 run to turn the 51-39 deficit into an even tally at 59-59.
Iowa State was able to hold on thanks largely to the shooting of its second point guard option off the bench. Fortune was forced to take shots with the Cougars double-teaming the big Cyclone post. He made good on his opportunity by making 3-4 attempts, including two big treys, to score 10 points. Iowa State shot a sizzling 56.5 percent for the game, including 5-11 threes. Jamal Tinsley led Iowa State with 17 points.
BYU had to deal with foul trouble guarding the much bigger Cyclones. Three starters, Wesley, Trent Whiting and Nate Knight all fouled out and Eric Nielsen, who came off the bench for the first time this year, was whistled four times. The Cougars started the game with five seniors, as forwards Nate Cooper and Knight got the assignment.
Wesley led all scorers with a season-high 26 points while Lyday and Whiting contributed 18 and 12 points, respectively. Knight had six points and a team-high five rebounds while Travis Hansen came off the bench to add nine points as only five Cougars made it to the scoring column.
BYU shot 42.9 percent for the game. Lyday and Whiting had the most trouble finding the mark, shooting a combined 9-30 from the floor. The Cougars went 4-16 on three-pointers after making a season-high nine treys in the same arena during Thursday's win over Boise State.
Lyday was a solid 3-7 on three-pointers to extend his consecutive games streak with a made trey to 14, dating back to last year. Lyday set the BYU record of 21 straight games last season. Hansen was the only other Cougar to connect from behind the arc, going 1-1. Whiting did not make a trey for the first time in three games, going 0-5.
BYU fell to 7-3 on the year with the loss and will now face No. 13 USC in the tournament's third-place game. Iowa State improved to 9-1 with the win and earned the right to play No. 25 Mississippi in the title contest. Mississippi, 10-0, gave USC, now 8-1, its first loss with an 84-83 in overtime win Friday. BYU tips at 3 p.m. HT (6 p.m. Mountain) and the championship game follows at 5 p.m. HT (8 p.m. Mountain).
IOWA ST (77)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Horton 31 2-5 3-4 1-7 1 4 7
Tinsley 36 5-13 6-9 1-3 3 4 17
Sullivan 28 3-5 0-0 0-5 1 1 8
Shirley 32 5-6 4-5 2-7 1 4 14
Rancik 17 3-4 1-3 0-4 3 3 7
Evans 2 1-2 1-1 1-1 1 2 3
Power 13 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 1 0
Pearson 23 4-5 3-7 3-5 2 4 11
Fortune 12 3-4 2-2 0-0 0 1 10
Skoglund 6 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 1 0
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TOTALS 200 26-46 20-31 9-34 12 25 77
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Percentages: FG-.565, FT-.645. 3-Point Goals:
5-11, .455 (Horton 0-1, Tinsley 1-3, Sullivan
2-3, Power 0-1, Fortune 2-3). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 3 (Tinsley, Shirley, Skoglund).
Turnovers: 18 (Horton 5, Tinsley 5, Pearson 2,
Rancik 2, Sullivan 2, Power, Shirley). Steals: 8
(Pearson 3, Tinsley 2, Horton, Rancik, Shirley).
BYU (71)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Knight 21 2-4 2-2 3-5 0 5 6
Wesley 33 9-14 8-10 1-4 0 5 26
Whiting 38 4-14 4-5 0-1 1 5 12
Lyday 32 5-16 5-8 0-2 1 3 18
Cooper 19 0-1 0-0 1-3 2 0 0
Hansen 18 4-4 0-0 2-3 0 0 9
Bobik 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Nielsen 23 0-0 0-0 0-3 0 4 0
Montague 12 0-2 0-0 0-2 2 1 0
Dawes 3 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 1 0
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TOTALS 200 24-56 19-25 7-25 6 25 71
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Percentages: FG-.429, FT-.760. 3-Point Goals:
4-16, .250 (Whiting 0-5, Lyday 3-7, Cooper 0-1,
Hansen 1-1, Montague 0-2). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 1 (Knight). Turnovers: 15 (Nielsen
3, Knight 2, Lyday 2, Montague 2, Wesley 2,
Whiting 2, Cooper, Dawes). Steals: 6 (Lyday 3,
Cooper, Nielsen, Whiting).
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Iowa St 29 48 - 77
Byu 31 40 - 71
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Technical fouls: None.