Morris’ buzzer-beater completes Cyclones’ comeback

Monte Morris did his job, putting himself in position to take a jump shot that would win the game for Iowa State and complete an amazing comeback, or send this Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal against Texas into overtime.

Now, it was up to fate.

“You are just hoping and praying it goes in,” Morris said.

It did, swishing clean as the buzzer sounded, giving Iowa State an improbable 69-67 victory that sent the second-seeded Cyclones to a Friday semifinal against Oklahoma.

Where it sends seventh-seeded Texas, 20-13, as far as an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, the Longhorns will know on Sunday when the 68-team is announced.

Where it sent Morris was into the arms of his teammates. The shot was launched just inside the three-point arc in front of the Cyclones bench. All Morris had to do was turn around, and there were teammates with arms wide open.

The shot over Texas’ Demarcus Holland gave Iowa State its only lead of the game.

“I got a great look at it and got the ball in for us and was able to walk off the court with a victory,” Morris said.

Holland thought Texas did what was necessary on the defensive end.

“He was trying to get a head of steam,” Holland said. “I tried as hard as I could to stop him from getting to the basket. He made a great move. I tried to contest it, and he made the shot.”

This Iowa State comeback was more improbable than the one it made last week — and that was crazy. The Cyclones trailed Oklahoma by 21 points early in the second half before embarking on a 22-0 run on the way to a victory in that game.

Thursday’s deficit wasn’t as deep. Iowa State trailed by as many as 16 in the first half, and could get no closer than 10 with 3 minutes, 56 seconds remaining.

Texas was playing superbly. The Longhorns had controlled the game’s pace and bothered Iowa State shots. But they couldn’t finish the deal.

“I’m still not sure how we won,” Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. “What an unbelievable game.”

Longhorns point guard Isaiah Taylor was excellent. When Iowa State cut the deficit to 54-48 with 10:42 remaining, Taylor scored Texas’ next seven points and seemed to restore order.

But the Longhorns misplayed the final 4 minutes, and Iowa State took full advantage. The Cyclones got three-pointers from Morris and Dustin Hogue, made four straight free throws and kept Texas from scoring.

“I hate it for our guys,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “We just didn’t finish it.”

With the score tied, Iowa State’s Georges Niang missed a short shot with 49 seconds remaining, and Texas had two chances. Taylor missed a runner in the lane, but the Longhorns controlled the rebound.

Then, Javan Felix was off on a three-point attempt. Hogue controlled the rebound and called a timeout with 5.8 seconds to play.

That’s not what Hoiberg wanted. He would have preferred to have kept playing.

“But Dustin, I guess, made the right play, called a timeout,” Hoiberg said. “We came out, we regrouped, drew something up in the huddle and Monte made a heck of an individual play.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2015 at 8:13 PM with the headline "Morris’ buzzer-beater completes Cyclones’ comeback."