AMES − That’s one way to complete your last homework assignment before final exams tip off.
Iowa State men’s basketball started slow, but once the Cyclones got going, they thrashed the visiting Omaha Mavericks on Sunday afternoon, 83-51.
Iowa State led by as many as 33 points late in the second half. The Cyclones hardly looked back after a 20-2 run to close out the first half.
Omaha was unable to match Iowa State’s firepower on both ends of the court for all 40 minutes.
The Cyclones had five scorers finish in double figures. Keshon Gilbert led the balanced effort with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, with three rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal. Milan Momcilovic chipped in 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, with five rebounds and two steals. Joshua Jefferson added 13 points and eight rebounds. Tamin Lipsey finished with 11 points, while Nate Heise came off the bench and had 10 points, five rebounds and a steal.
It was a quieter scoring day for Curtis Jones, who finished with four points, but he also had six assists and three steals.
Defensively, the Cyclones forced the Mavericks to commit 19 turnovers, which Iowa State turned into 24 points off turnovers.
It was a back-and-forth battle to start. The Cyclones had some sloppy turnovers early on, and they didn’t get into a groove offensively. Iowa State got some good looks, but just couldn’t get the shots to drop.
Whenever the Cyclones did start to string together some points and gain separation, the Mavericks answered right back.
Omaha’s J.J. White had a game-tying basket to make it 21-21 with 6:57 left in the half. It was the last time the Mavericks would be within reach of the Cyclones. Iowa State rattled off a 20-2 run to finish the first half and take a commanding 41-23 lead at the break.
Gilbert sparked the run with a three-pointer to reclaim the lead for Iowa State. Five other players provided points during the game-changing run, with Gilbert finishing it off with a fastbreak layup after an Omaha turnover with 15 seconds remaining in the half.
Tony Osburn led the Mavericks with 13 points, five rebounds and four steals. Isaac Ondekane chipped in 12 points. J.J. White had 10 points.
Omaha shot 20-of-56 (35.7%) overall, and 6-of-23 (26.1%) from beyond the arc.
Iowa State improved to 9-1 overall. The Cyclones will have a week layover until their next game due to final exams this week. They will resume action next Sunday against Morgan State in their final non-conference game of the season. Tip-off is scheduled for noon at Hilton Coliseum.
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State basketball: Cyclones crush Omaha in balanced effort
