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Royce White Leads ISU Men in Season Opener

Sports

November 14th, 2011 by admin

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Royce White scored 25 points in his first game in two years, and Iowa State unveiled its new-look team with an 86-77 season-opening victory over Lehigh on Saturday.

White, who started his college career at Minnesota but never played for the Gophers, is one of four Division I transfers playing for the Cyclones, who got 12 points from returning regular Scott Christopherson and shot 65 percent (17 of 26) in the second half.

Lehigh (0-2) led St. John’s by 16 points in its opener before losing 78-73 and trailed Iowa State just 39-37 in the final minute of the first half. But White converted a three-point play off a crowd-pleasing dunk with 8.8 seconds left in the half, and the Cyclones outscored Lehigh 37-14 in the first 12 1/2 minutes of the second half to break it open.

Holden Greiner led Lehigh with 17 points, and C.J. McCollum scored 16.

Iowa State also got solid contributions from its other transfers. Chris Babb (Penn State), Chris Allen (Michigan State) and Anthony Booker (Southern Illinois) each scored 10 points, and Babb handed out five assists.

But White, the most highly regarded of the newcomers, clearly was the star in this one.

The brawny 6-foot-8 sophomore was 9 for 15 from the field with two dunks, grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked three shots and had two assists.