Texas A&M
Iowa State
Aggie Men Get Big Win at Iowa State, 52-50
Jan 29, 2002 | Men's Basketball
January 29, 2002
Nick Anderson hit a free throw with 3.8 seconds to play, and Shane Power's game-winner hit the rim as time expired, as the Texas A&M basketball team knocked off the Iowa State Cyclones 52-50 Wednesday night before 11,926 fans at Hilton Coliseum.
With the win, Texas A&M (9-12, 3-4 Big 12) became the first of the Big 12's four former Southwest Conference schools to defeat ISU in Ames. The win also marks the Aggies' first in Big 12 play outside of the state of Texas in league history.
A&M, which has won three of its last four games, won a road game outside of Texas for the first time in five seasons. The Aggies' last win on an opponent's home court came on Dec. 20, 1996, when Texas A&M topped Missouri-Kansas City 72-70 in overtime.
Iowa State suffered its sixth straight loss and dropped to 9-13 and 1-7 in the league.
Bernard King broke a 49-49 tie with 11 seconds to play when he hit a running jumper from the free throw line to give the Aggies the lead. ISU's Tyray Pearson, fouled with 4.8 ticks on the clock, hit the back end of his free throws to cut the A&M lead to one. Anderson was fouled on the inbound pass and connected on the first of two from the charity stripe to close out the scoring.
The Aggies had a nine-point lead, the largest of the game, after a King 3-pointer made the score 43-34 with just under six minutes to play. Iowa State rallied, igniting the crowd with an 11-2 run and tying the game at 45 with 2:23 to go on a pair of Jake Sullivan free throws. Sullivan scored nine of the Cyclones' 11 points on the run.
Texas A&M took the lead for the first time at the 14:58 mark of the second half on a jumper by Anderson. It was a lead they would never relinquish.
Cold shooting by the Aggies at the start of the game helped Iowa State jump out to an early 7-0 lead. A&M would pull within one on a Keith Bean free throw with 10 minutes to go in the half, but the Cyclones responded with another 7-0 run. The lead would climb as high as eight before the Aggies closed the half on an 8-2 run to trail 25-23, despite shooting just 29 percent in the frame and being out-rebounded 24-to-12. Shane Power scored 13 of the Cyclones' 25 points in the half.
Keith Bean, nursing a sore shoulder, led the Aggies with 13 points and tied a career high with 12 rebounds. Bean has grabbed double-figure boards in four of his last six games. King scored 12 on the night to go along with seven boards and five assists. Anderson was the other Aggie in double figures with 11 points.
Sullivan led Iowa State with 18 points while Power finished with 15, scoring just two in the second half. Pearson-the Big 12's second leading scorer at 19.5 points per game-was held scoreless in the first half and finished with five points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Texas A&M will return to action on Sunday when it concludes a brief two-game road trip in Waco against the Baylor Bears. Tip-off for the game, which will be televised regionally by ESPN Plus, is set for 1 p.m. (CST) at the Ferrell Center.
