OLEGGIO, Italy- The Iowa State men’s basketball team opened the second half on a 23-5 run en route to 96-55 win over Oleggio Basket Thursday evening in Oleggio, Italy.The game was the first of Iowa State’s Italian trip.

The Cyclones struggled at the beginning, holding a 43-32 lead at the half. But the decisive run to begin the second half broke open the game. Scott Christopherson capped off an 11-1 run with a trey to give the Cyclones a 66-37 lead with just over six minutes expired in the second half.

“I thought early on was to be expected,” Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We hadn’t played in three days and done anything basketball-wise. It took us awhile to get our legs underneath us. But once we got settled down, I was very pleased with the effort. That was one thing that was constant the whole game was how hard we played. We helped each other out on defense and got a lot of deflections and steals which led to some easy fast-break baskets.”

Melvin Ejim was one of five Cyclones in double-figure scoring, tallying a double-double with 14 points and 12 boards. Ejim was 7-of-10 from the floor. Chris Babb led all scorers with 16 points, followed by 14 points from Christopherson. Babb also recorded six steals.

Royce White scored six points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor. But the Cyclone forward helped out in other ways, grabbing 12 caroms and dishing out a team-high seven assists.

Iowa State didn’t shoot it very well from long-range, going 5-of-22 from beyond the arc. The game featured four 10-minute quarters and a NBA regulation 3-point line.

“The one thing we didn’t do well tonight was shoot the ball well,” Hoiberg said. “If we made our normal shots, we score 110. If we play with this kind of effort and intensity we are going to be fine.”

The Cyclones will play again tomorrow vs. Sondrio All-Stars in Verase. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CST.

 

Iowa State Statistics
Babb: 16 pts (7-16 fg, 2-8 3fg) 2 reb, 2 asst, 6 stls
Ejim: 14 pts (7-10 fg), 12 reb
Christopherson: 14 pts (6-14 fg, 2-6 3fg), 2 asst
Booker: 12 pts (5-7 fg), 2 reb
Gibson: 11 pts (5-8 fg), 8 reb
Allen: 9 pts (3-9 fg, 1-4 3fg), 2 asst
White: 6 pts (3-5 fg), 12 reb, 7 asst, 4 stls
Palo 5 pts (2-3 fg), 1 reb, 1 asst
Sledge 5 pts (2-2 fg), 1 asst, 1 stl
Railey: 2 pts (1-4 fg), 4 reb, 2 blks
McGee: 2 pts (1-10 fg), 2 reb, 2 asst, 2 stls