Sophomore Demarion Watson scored a career-high 15 points off the bench to lead No. 8 Iowa State to a 58-45 win over Oklahoma on Wednesday in Ames, Iowa.
Watson had never scored more than seven points in a contest previously. He was averaging 1.6 this season.
The Cyclones (22-6, 11-4 Big 12) won for the sixth time in seven games to stay a game behind Houston for the conference lead. Iowa State improved to 17-0 at home this season.
The Sooners (19-9, 7-8) lost for the third time in four games.
The Cyclones shot a season-low 33.3 percent but still found a way to come out with the victory, outrebounding the Sooners 40-35, holding the Sooners to an even lower shooting percentage (32.6 percent), forcing 14 turnovers and winning the bench-scoring battle 32-13.
Watson finished 7 of 7 from the floor with nine rebounds, while Curtis Jones added 11 points for Iowa State.
Watson and Jones were the only players in the game to hit more than three field goals.
Iowa State’s two leading scorers coming into the night, Keshon Gilbert and Tamin Lipsey, shot a combined 4 of 24 from the field.
Sooners coach Porter Moser made his first starting lineup change of the season, inserting Rivaldo Soares, who had surged of late, in as a starter in place of Otega Oweh.
Soares led the Sooners with nine points, shooting 3 of 6 from the floor, and seven rebounds.
Oklahoma missed all seven of its first-half 3-point attempts and finished 3 of 17 (17.6 percent) from beyond the arc.
Iowa State also got off to a dreadful shooting start, making just 2 of 10 with the game nearly eight minutes old.
But the Sooners couldn’t take advantage early, making just 1 of 10 themselves.
Oklahoma led 20-16 on Milos Uzan’s jumper with just more than six minutes remaining in the first half. Iowa State then scored the final nine points before the break to take a 25-20 lead into halftime.
Oklahoma trimmed the deficit to 27-25 on Uzan’s 3-pointer in the opening two minutes after halftime, but the Cyclones responded with a 15-4 run to take control for good. The Sooners didn’t get closer than 10 the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media
