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Freshman Curtis
Stinson had 19 points, 10 rebounds and four steals and Jake Sullivan made Iowa
State's only 3-pointer at a critical time, lifting the Cyclones to a 68-61 victory
over Xavier on Tuesday night.
Iowa State (7-0) outran Xavier (5-4) in rallying from an early seven-point deficit
in the first half, then made the plays it needed to counter the Musketeers'
repeated threats in the second half.
Jackson Vroman added 18 points for Iowa State on 7-for-9 shooting and Jared Homan scored 12. Romain Sato led Xavier with 19 but missed eight of his 13 shots. The Musketeers shot just 29.6 percent in the first half and 36.8 percent for the game.
Stinson and Iowa State's other freshman guard, Will Blalock, more than held their own against Xavier's senior backcourt of Sato and Lionel Chalmers, who had 15 points. Blalock finished with six points, four assists and two steals and converted a big three-point play late in the game.
Iowa State struggled on offense during a long stretch in the second half, but Xavier could not put any kind of run together and never got closer than three points.
The Musketeers trailed 55-49 after Sato's three-point play with 4:02 remaining. But Sullivan, who had been 0-for-5 behind the arc, swished a 3 from the left corner 11 seconds later to make it 58-49.
Iowa State was leading 62-56 when Blalock soared down the lane and made a high arching shot as he was fouled. He made the free throw for a 65-56 lead with 1:17 to play.
The downside to Iowa State's finish was free throw shooting. The Cyclones missed seven of 13 foul shots in the final 3:18 before Sullivan sank two with 14.2 seconds left.
Xavier made three 3-pointers in the first two minutes in jumping to a 9-2 lead. Iowa State answered by going inside to Vroman and Homan, who combined for the Cyclones' next 16 points as they built an 18-15 lead. Iowa State led the rest of the way.