MILWAUKEE_They come at you in waves and when you finally find a way to stem the tide, they manage one more and destroy your spirit.
Iowa State's basketball team just doesn't know how to quit.
The fifth-seeded Cyclones took everything No. 12 Nevada had in the second half of a first-round NCAA Tournament game at the BMO Harris Bradley Center on Thursday night and managed to answer every time it looked like the Wolf Pack was going to spring an upset.
The final result was an 84-73 Cyclones victory.
It didn't come without some heartburn for the scores of Iowa State fans that packed the Bradley Center. Nevada trailed by 11 at halftime but cut the lead to six or fewer nine times only to see the Cyclones answer each time.
It was 46-40 when guard Matt Thomas buried a three-pointer with 14 minutes 51 seconds left. It was 53-47 when Solomon Young tipped in a basket. It was 57-51 when Milwaukee native Deonte Burton drove for a bucket.
It just never was enough for the Wolf Pack, who finished the year 28-7.
Guard Monte Morris led Iowa State with 19 points, Burton chipped in 14 on 7-of-14 shooting and Thomas and guard Nazareth Mitrou-Long added 13 apiece.
Iowa State (24-10), which will face Purdue in the second round Saturday, shot 55.6 percent from the field and 42.1 percent from three-point range.
Cameron Oliver led Nevada with 22 points on 9-of-19 shooting and Jordan Caroline added 20 on 6-of-16 shooting.
It almost seemed like Nevada had figured out Iowa State's offense at halftime and found a way to chip away at an 11-point deficit.
Over a span of 8:44, the Wolf Pack outscored the Cyclones, 22-15, to cut the lead to 55-51 with 9:56 left. Caroline and Oliver led the comeback as the two got aggressive and started attacking the basket.
Caroline scored 10 points during the run, erasing a slow start to the game and giving Iowa State a reason to collapse its defense. After being stymied through the first half on attempts to get inside, the Wolf Pack pushed the ball whenever possible and attacked the rim.
It was a completely different team from what Iowa State had seen in the first half and it forced the Cyclones to play on their heels for a good part of the final 20 minutes.
In the first half, the Cyclones had their hands full with Oliver in the early going, but they completely shut down the Wolf Pack star after he scored his seventh point on a three with 10:58 left. He had only four shots the rest of the half, hitting just one, a three-pointer with 53 seconds left.
In the meantime, the Cyclones just came at the Wolf Pack from every direction. Rotating players in and out of the lineup, they took advantage of every little crevice that Nevada allowed them, driving to the hoop when they came out to play the three and taking the three when they played the drive.
Seven players scored as Iowa State went into the locker room with a 40-27 lead. Morris had eight points and Burton, Mitrou-Long, Donovan Jackson and Darrell Bowie six apiece as part of an offensive barrage in which the Cyclones shot 58.6 percent from the floor.
They dominated the boards, 21-13, and their bench outscored Nevada's, 12-0.
Jackson and Bowie, playing in their hometown, came off the bench to combine for 6-of-6 shooting in a total of 17 minutes. Their speed and strength overmatched Nevada's defense, which caused seven turnovers with some of its pressure but gave up way to many easy drives to the basket.
The highlight for the Cyclones and their throng of fans who filled up several sections in the lower bowl was when Burton drove from the wing and threw down an uncontested windmill dunk that gave Iowa State a 30-20 lead with 4:24 left.
All told, the Cyclones had eight dunks and six layups in the half, making it a pretty demoralizing first 20 minutes for Nevada.
