Terry Maston scored a career-high 23 points and Baylor ended a four-game losing streak with an 81-67 victory over Iowa State on Saturday night.
The lead changed hands eight times before the Bears went on a 15-0 run over a 2:12 span early in the second half. Baylor had three 3-point plays during the spurt, including one that resulted in a five-point trip after Iowa State coach Steve Prohm was hit with a technical foul.
"We wanted to come out and you want to get the crowd going, and we wanted to get some momentum," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "We were able to get some separation and get the crowd into the game. That really helps, especially with the zone and different things like that, because now they're trying to score quicker and it's harder to score quicker against (the zone)."
Baylor (13-10, 3-7 Big 12 Conference) led 51-38 at that point and the Cyclones never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
"When we went into halftime they told us to be very aggressive and take the ball to the basket," said Maston, who was 9-of-11 shooting. "I know I was shooting a couple of fadeaway jumpers, and they told me to get in there and basically force my will into the paint and get easy buckets. So that's what I did, and it ended up working out great."
Manu Lecomte added 14 points for the Bears, who won despite shooting 2 for 14 from 3-point range. Baylor made up for that with a 43-35 edge in rebounds and 52-28 in points in the paint. The Bears shot 62 percent in the second half and 50 percent for the game.
Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. added 10 points and 14 rebounds for Baylor.
"I think it was just determination. We knew coming into the game we had to win," Lual-Acuil said. "T.J. (Maston) did a great job playing with energy and we didn't want to leave here without a win."
Donovan Jackson had 15 points to lead Iowa State (12-10, 3-7). Cameron Lard and Lindell Wigginton scored 14 points apiece. All of Wigginton's came in the first half, and he led the Cyclones with eight assists.
"From the first play of the second half, they get a layup to start the second half on just a drive," Prohm said. "It was drive, drive, drive, and then it was post feed, post feed, post feed. Then we got sped up on offense, but also, too, we got the ball at the middle of the paint, 10-12 feet at times. You've got to make those plays, and we collapsed defensively."
Iowa State was 9 for 20 from 3-point range (45 percent), but shot 34 percent overall.
BIG PICTURE
Iowa State: The Cyclones fell to 0-5 on the road in the Big 12, thanks in large part to inconsistency. Jackson only had two points in the first half before finding his shot in the second, while Wigginton was 0 for 7 after halftime.
Baylor: With shots not falling from the outside, the Baylor guards were aggressive going to the basket. Lecomte missed all six of his 3-point tries, but scored two of Baylor's 3-point plays during the game-deciding spurt. Jake Lindsey and King McClure got high-percentage shots to combine for 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting.
ZONE STOPS WIGGINTON COLD
Wigginton scored 30 points against Baylor in the first meeting between the teams, a 75-65 win on Jan. 13 in Ames, Iowa. He appeared to be headed toward another big game at halftime, but Baylor switched its looks and took him out of the game.
Prohm said the zone had an effect, but some of the problem was Wigginton's shot simply not falling.
"How many times did he shoot an open 15-foot jump shot? We ran high-ball. We changed our action because they had guarded our other action a different way," Prohm said. "They were giving up the roll. We got it once or twice, but he's coming off and I'm going to live with that."
UP NEXT
Iowa State finishes a two-game road trip on Wednesday when it meets No. 10 Texas Tech, which is tied for first in the Big 12.
Baylor is on the road against Oklahoma State on Tuesday.
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