No. 12 Iowa State pulls away from No. 7 Texas, wins

AMES, Iowa — Jaren Holmes scored 21 points and No. 12 Iowa State defeated No. 7 Texas 78-67 on Tuesday night.

Holmes hit seven of 13 shots, including two 3-pointers, and Gabe Kalscheur added 16 points.

“We earned this,” Holmes said. “We deserve this, because of our daily habits.”

Caleb Grill contributed 17 and Osun Osunniyi finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for the Cyclones (14-3, 5-1 Big 12).

“There is a rugged toughness to how we do it,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “But there is a togetherness and a unity that are at a really, really special level with this group.”

Texas (15-3, 4-2) was undone by a secondhalf scoring drought that lasted nearly 4 1/2 minutes. Iowa State responded with an 8-0 run to seize control.

The Longhorns went 9 1/2 without making a shot from the floor.

“They made plays down the stretch,” Texas interim coach Rodney Terry said. “T.J. had his team ready to play today. Just a highly competitive game in the Big 12.”

A 3-pointer from Grill gave the Cyclones a 64-55 lead with 6:01 to play.

Christian Bishop led Texas with 12 points.

The Longhorns’ Tyrese Hunter scored 10 points - all in the first half - in his return to Ames, after transferring from Iowa State. Hunter was greeted with boos and an occasional obscene chant from the student section.

He responded with six quick points, matching his scoring mark from his previous three games.

“We’re Texas. We get everybody’s big game,” Terry said. “We looked at it like ‘you know what, it’s another opportunity to compete at the highest level.’ (Hunter) attacked it the same way.”

The Longhorns went on to build a 29-18 lead, before Iowa State answered with a 10-0 run, sparked by 3-pointers from Kalscheur and

Grill.

Texas went the final 7:28 of the first half without a field goal, but only trailed 36-35.

“The first 10 minutes, they were the aggressor,” Otzelberger said. “That last 30 minutes, how we competed defensively, is the club we are and who we need to be for 40 minutes.”

NO. 1 HOUSTON 80, TULANE 60

NEW ORLEANS — Marcus Sasser highlighted a 23-point performance with seven 3-pointers, and Houston earned its ninth straight victory.

J’Wan Roberts scored 15, Jamal Shead added 14 points and Tramon Mark had 12 for Houston (18-1, 6-0 American Athletic Conference), which led for all but a 50-second span in the first half while preventing Tulane (12-6, 5-2) from taking over the top spot in the conference.

Jaylen Forbes scored 23, Jalen Cook added 15 points and Kevin Cross had 12 for the Wave, which could not get closer than five points in the second half.

NO. 4 ALABAMA 78, VANDERBILT 66

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Freshman Brandon Miller scored 30 points as Alabama beat Vanderbilt for their seventh straight victory.

Jaden Bradley and Noah Gurley each added 12 points for Alabama (16-2, 6-0 SEC). Gurley capped the win with a dunk in the final seconds.

Vanderbilt (9-9, 2-3) now has lost three of its last four — all against ranked opponents. Tyrin Lawrence led Vanderbilt with 20 points, Jordan Wright added 15 and Ezra Manjon had 11.

NO. 9 TENNESSEE 70, MISSISSIPPI STATE 59

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Zakai Zeigler had 24 points and Tennessee made 8 of 9 3-pointers in the second half as the Volunteers were able to pull away late to defeat Mississippi State.

Julian Phillips had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Tennessee (15-3, 5-1 SEC), while Josiah-Jordan James finished with 13 points.

Shakeel Moore had his best game as a collegiate player scoring a career-high 20 points for the Bulldogs (12-6, 1-5), making all eight of his free throw attempts. Tolu Smith had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

WAKE FOREST 87, NO. 19 CLEMSON 77

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Tyree Appleby scored 24 points to help Wake Forest end Clemson’s perfect start in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

The Demon Deacons (14-5, 6-2 ACC) won their fourth straight game and played from in front the entire way after the game’s opening minute. Cameron Hildreth added 17 points and 10 rebounds for Wake Forest, which jumped to a double-digit lead midway through the first half and had a quick start out of the break to push that margin to 15 points.

The Tigers (15-4, 7-1) got as close as six in the second half. PJ Hall had 22 points and nine rebounds to lead Clemson, while Hunter Tyson had 19 points and 14 boards.

NO. 21 BAYLOR 81, TEXAS TECH 74

LUBBOCK, Texas — Keyonte George scored 27 points, and Baylor defeated Texas Tech.

George scored 18 points in the second half as the Bears (13-5, 3-3 Big 12) won their third in a row. LJ Cryer added 18 points, and Jalen Bridges finished with 14 for Baylor, which returned to the AP Top 25 this week.

Jaylon Tyson led

Texas Tech (10-8, 0-6) with 19 points, while Pop Isaacs added 14, Fardaws Aimaq had 12 and Kevin Obanor added 10.

——— AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-collegebasketball-poll.