BV Northwest grad Clayton Custer has front-row seat for Cyclones’ comeback

Clayton Custer starred at Blue Valley Northwest. Participated in his share of exciting games, big man on campus, that sort of thing.

But his high school days didn’t much prepare him for Thursday night, when “25 to 30” family and friends turned out to watch the true freshman’s Iowa State Cyclones stage a sizzling comeback against Texas in his hometown arena.

“Oh my gosh, Monte (Morris) hit a big-time shot,” Custer said of his teammate’s buzzer-beater in a 69-67 victory. “I was excited we were able to do it in front of a hometown crowd.”

Coming out of high school, Custer, a 6-foot guard, was recruited by the likes of Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. He said he had scholarship offers from K-State and the Oklahoma schools but chose Iowa State “because of Coach (Fred) Hoiberg.”

The decision looked like an awfully good one on Thursday. And it was about time Custer got a front-row seat for some Big 12 Tournament fireworks.

Although he caught a couple of games at last year’s Big 12 tourney, he missed Iowa State’s championship-Saturday victory over Baylor.

Of course, he had a pretty good reason. He was playing for BV Northwest in a championship game of his own at the Kansas state finals.

“So we won the state tournament the same day (they) won the Big 12 Tournament,” Custer said, smiling.

Custer’s first season in Ames has been a time of learning. He’s logged only minimal minutes, but he says he’s paying close attention, waiting for his turn.

“I’m just trying to get better every single day,” he said, “and hopefully I’ll be able to contribute sometime soon.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2015 at 10:18 PM with the headline "BV Northwest grad Clayton Custer has front-row seat for Cyclones’ comeback."