IOWA CITY, Iowa – Scott Christopherson scored a career-high 30 points, including 24 in the second half, and Iowa State rallied to beat Iowa 75-72 on Friday night for its first win in Iowa City since 2002.
Freshman Melvin Ejim added 15 points for the Cyclones (8-2), who used seven 3-pointers from Christopherson to beat the rival Hawkeyes for the second year in a row.
Iowa pulled within two with 1:08 left, but Christopherson buried a 3 from the corner with 40 seconds left to put the Cyclones ahead 73-68.
Iowa's Deyvn Marble was then fouled behind the 3-point line. But he made just one free throw, then committed a turnover that Diante Garrett converted into a game-clinching layup.
Matt Gatens had 15 points and Melsahn Basabe added 12 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks to lead the Hawkeyes (5-5), who saw their only winning streak of the season snapped at two games.
The matchup marked the first between Iowa coach Fran McCaffery and Iowa State's Fred Hoiberg. Each was hired last spring to revive these once-proud programs.
Iowa State looked utterly lost for much of the first half and trailed 40-31 at the break. But the Cyclones shook off those early struggles in impressive fashion and picked up their first true road win of the season.
Jamie Vanderbeken's 3 tied the game 42-42 with 15:45 left, and the red-hot Christopherson hit back-to-back 3s from the corner and the top of the key to put Iowa State back on top 57-52.
Garrett shot just 1-for-14 in the first 20 minutes. But he found Christopherson for a 3 and Ejim for a transition dunk that gave the Cyclones a 61-52 lead, and his basket with 3:34 left put the Cyclones ahead 68-58.
Marble hit a 3 and Zach McCabe added two free throws to bring the Hawkeyes within 70-68 late, but the deficit proved too large to overcome.
McCabe banked in a long 3 at the buzzer to make the final seem closer than it was.
Iowa State was often at least one step ahead of Iowa in opening the game with a 12-4 run. But the Hawkeyes answered with a 19-2 spurt, and Garrett's cold shooting was just one of the reasons the Cyclones fell behind early.
Like Christopherson, Garrett picked it up in the second half. He finished with 10 points, six assists and four steals, although he shot an unsightly 5 of 24.
In many ways, McCaffery and Hoiberg couldn't be more different. But both were hired for the same reason: to restore dormant programs behind a more exciting style of play than their predecessors, Todd Lickliter and Greg McDermott.
McCaffery, 50, has spent nearly three decades as a college coach. Hoiberg, 38, is in his first season as a coach at any level after a 10-year NBA career and four more in the front office of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Though neither program is expected to complete a quick turnaround, both have shown flashes of progress in the season's first month.
Iowa put together perhaps its best effort of the season in beating Northern Iowa 51-39 on Tuesday night. The Cyclones were picked last in the Big 12's preseason poll, but they entered Friday night's game outscoring opponents by just over 19 points a game.
The win over the Hawkeyes joins a buzzer-beating victory over Creighton in Des Moines as Iowa State's biggest to date.
McCabe scored 13 points and Andrew Brommer added a surprising 12 for Iowa, which has eight days off before traveling to Drake in its final in-state game.
