Freshmen help Iowa State beat Missouri in Big 12 opener

AMES, Iowa -- With two seniors and a junior on the floor, Iowa State turned to its two freshmen to beat Missouri.

Curtis Stinson hit a spinning shot in the lane to put Iowa State ahead with 38.5 seconds left and Will Blalock followed with a steal, lifting the Cyclones to a 70-65 victory on Wednesday night.

Stinson, who scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, helped Iowa State (8-2) build a 12-point lead in the Big 12 opener, then led the Cyclones back after Missouri (5-5) went up by seven.

"I don't have enough good adjectives for Curtis and Will. They were terrific," Iowa State coach Wayne Morgan said. "I can't imagine anywhere in America, any college team on this level, that there are two freshmen that mean more to their team. They're great."

The two youngsters, who play with the poise of veterans, came through after Missouri pulled ahead 65-64 on Rickey Paulding's two free throws with 2:06 remaining. The Tigers had a chance to expand their lead after a traveling call negated a basket by Iowa State's Jared Homan at the 1:36 mark, but Paulding missed a 3-point shot and Iowa State capitalized.

Stinson, a 6-foot-2 guard, drove into the lane, spun and put up a soft shot that dropped through the basket.

"Coach told us to get down there and spread the floor and if I see an opening in the lane, penetrate it," said Stinson, who made eight of 11 shots in the second half. "I faked to the sideline, spun around and the whole lane opened up."

Blalock then picked off a Paulding pass and got the ball to Jake Sullivan, who hasn't missed a free throw all season. Missouri had to foul and Sullivan made both shots with 17.1 seconds left for a 68-65 lead. Homan sank two more to finish it off after Paulding missed another 3-point attempt.

"When you have the lead, you've got to finish the game," Missouri's Randy Pulley said. "We've got to work on that."

Blalock, Sullivan and Homan all finished with 11 points, with Blalock adding five assists and four steals.

Thomas Gardner led Missouri with 17 points and had the Tigers' last field goal, a 3-pointer with 5:47 remaining. Paulding scored 15 and Arthur Johnson had 10.

Iowa State made it difficult for Missouri to get the ball inside by playing zone. Frustrated at times, the Tigers put up 25 3-point shots and made only eight. Gardner was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, but Paulding was just 1-for-7.

"At some point you've got to come out and put on the line for the entire game, not just the second half," Missouri coach Quin Snyder said. "This game wasn't lost at the seven-minute mark, it was lost, to me, in the first half with how we came out defensively and how tentative we were against the zone."

The game reflected Missouri's up-and-down season. The Tigers seemed to have righted themselves in a 20-point victory over Iowa last Saturday and seized the momentum Wednesday night with a 23-5 run that erased a 12-point Iowa State lead.

The Cyclones went 5 1/2 minutes without a field goal and when Gardner hit his final 3, Missouri led 63-56. Suddenly, the Cyclones got untracked. Stinson scored six straight points and Homan followed with a jumper in an 8-0 burst that put Iowa State up 64-63 with 3:14 remaining. Paulding then hit his two free throws to give Missouri its final lead.

"We kept playing defense and we kept rebounding and realized at some point our scoring would come back," Morgan said. "I think our intestinal fortitude to get through that and then come back and make the baskets and free throws to win, I've got to give my kids a lot of credit."