In front of a rowdy pink-clad Iowa State crowd in Ames, Iowa, the Wildcats (19-4,  6-3) continued to assert their dominance over the Cyclones. It wasn’t the prettiest game the Wildcats have played this season, but resting squarely on the shoulders of senior guard Denis Clemente, who scored a season-high 30 points, the Wildcats hung on to defeat the Cyclones, 79-75. K-State has now won eight in a row against the Cyclones and have been victorious in their past four road games.

Iowa State, who has been the source of much misfortune this year with injuries and defections, played admirably and refused to go away, even in the final minutes of the game when K-State led by double-figures. With a minute to go in the game and the Wildcats leading by 12 points, the Cyclones continued to fight and were able to carve into the Wildcats’ lead by forcing turnovers. The end result was a 4-point victory for the Wildcats, but the Cyclones fought to the very end. In a way, the way the Cyclones continued to fight to the very end was a perfect testament for the message about Breast Cancer Awareness that Iowa State hoped to send coming into the game.

Craig Brackins was nothing short of amazing for the Cyclones, collecting 11 rebounds and scoring 29 points. There were times during the game where Brackins just asserted his ability over the Wildcats and single-handedly kept the Cyclones from getting blown out. That alone is not particularly surprising. Everyone knew coming into the game that Brackins is an NBA-caliber power forward. But the rest of the Cyclones team fought along with Brackins and battled the Wildcats for the entire game.

The Wildcats came out with something to prove in the second half after being out-rebounded (20-22) and outscored (31-35) by the Cyclones in the first half. They immediately began to assert themselves, cutting into the lead and shortly thereafter taking it back from the Cyclones. The Wildcats would not give back the lead after that, led by the hot hand of Clemente.

Clemente was 9-17 from the floor, including 6-7 from three-point range, and chipped in 6 free-throws (6-6). Additionally, three others chipped in double-figures for the Wildcats (Jacob Pullen, 15; Curtis Kelly, 15; Jamar Samuels, 10). Brackins was joined in double-figures by two Cyclones players (Marquis Gilstrap, 18; Diante Garrett, 10), but it simply was not enough against the deep and talented Wildcats.

The Wildcats ended the game with more rebounds than the Cyclones (37-35), shot better from the floor (41.3% to Iowa State’s 34.2%), and connected on three more three-point baskets. Added all up, it resulted in a close win for the Wildcats in a very tough arena against a feisty Iowa State team.

To sum up the game in just a sentence: Hilton was magical as always, but it wasn’t enough to compensate for the Wildcats’ will to win against the struggling Cyclones.

K-State will not play a mid-week game and will return home to play Colorado next Saturday, February 13th. The game will be televised on the Big 12 Network at 5 PM.