AMES, Iowa (AP) – Three straight losses and the distraction caused by the ongoing Bubu Palo saga left No. 16 Iowa State in desperate need of some good news.A close win over a ranked opponent was a good place for the Cyclones to start. Melvin Ejim scored 20 points and Iowa State beat No. 22 Kansas State 81-75 on Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak and get back to .500 in the Big 12.

Georges Niang had 18 points and freshman Matt Thomas matched a career high with 14 for the Cyclones (15-3, 3-3 Big 12), who blew a 12-point halftime lead before putting the game away late in the second half. Freshman Marcus Foster scored 20 points for Kansas State (14-6, 4-3), which lost consecutive games for the first time since November.

Iowa State had opened the season at 14-0, the best start in school history. But losses to Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas had considerably cooled the program’s national buzz and sent it tumbling eight spots in this week’s poll.Then last week, a district court judge ruled that Palo, a reserve guard who averaged 2.8 points a game last season, be reinstated in a move that angered the administration and dominated local headlines.

Palo had been kicked off the team in August in connection with sexual assault charges that were eventually dropped. The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday denied a request by the Iowa Board of Regents for an immediate stay of that ruling. Palo spent the game on the bench and in uniform, but Hoiberg refused to comment on Palo after the game.

Kansas State was coming off a buzzer-beating loss at Texas, as Jonathan Holmes hit a 3 as time expired for a 67-64 Longhorns’ win on Tuesday.