Cyclones on Holiday at Classic

AMES, Iowa - Marcus Fizer dominated inside with 24 points and Michael Nurse hit four first-half 3-pointers as Iowa State rolled past Idaho State 89-49 Tuesday night in the first round of the Cyclones' Holiday Classic.

At 6-feet-8 and 265 pounds, Fizer was much stronger than Idaho State's taller front line and had his way near the basket. He had 15 points on 5-for-8 in the first half and finished 9-for-12 from the field while playing just 24 minutes.

Nurse finished with 14 points and Paul Shirley had 12 for Iowa State (9-2), which won its sixth straight and moved into Wednesday night's championship game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, a 76-74 winner over Samford.

Idaho State (4-3) plays Samford in the consolation game.

Nurse made his first 3-pointer less than minute and a half into the game as Iowa State jumped to a 9-2 lead and was never threatened. The Cyclones drove the ball aggressively to the basket, frequently drawing fouls, and kept Idaho State out of synch with tough man-to-man defense.

Iowa State was in the 1-and-1 just four minutes into the second half and made 29-of-40 free throws in the game. Idaho State was 8-for-23 at the line and had four players four out.

Stephen Brown led Idaho State with 12 points. The Bengals shot 27 percent in the second half and 31.6 percent for the game.

Kantrail Horton's 3-pointer capped a 9-2 run that gave Iowa State a 45-23 halftime lead and the Cyclones ran off 13 straight points while Fizer was on the bench to open a 64-29 lead.

Iowa State finished that burst with three baskets in a minute. Jamaal Tinsley scored on a spinning drive, Nurse hit Shirley for a layup and Richard Evans followed up miss with a putback.

Tinsley had six points, six assists, six steals and three blocks.

When Fizer returned, he quickly hit Idaho State with a seven-point flurry to top off the victory. First he hit a turnaround shot. Then he drove to the basket from midcourt for a layup that became a three-point play when he got fouled. He followed that with another drive to make it 80-47 with 4:12 left.

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Players Mentioned

Richard Evans

Marcus Fizer

Marcus Fizer

Kantrail Horton

Michael Nurse

Michael Nurse

Paul Shirley

Paul Shirley

Jamaal Tinsley

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