Cyclones near Big 12 title

Sunday, February 27th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The two teams at the top and the bottom of the Big 12 standings have the year 1945 in common. It was the 1945-46 season when Kansas State last lost 11 straight games.

Now, the Wildcats, a week after ending their backbreaking 11-game skid of this season, have taken sole possession of last place with two games to go. It was 1945 when Iowa State last won a conference title of any kind. And the happy Cyclones led by Marcus Fizer have grabbed the lead.

No. 17 Iowa State (24-4, 12-2 Big 12) moved into first place Saturday with a highly emotional 72-61 victory over No. 10 Oklahoma State (23-3, 11-3) that left Fizer and a lot of other people wiping away tears.

As far as Iowa State fans are concerned, you'd have to go back a lot farther than 1945 to find a better time. Kansas State (9-16, 2-12) made it 13 losses in 14 games by dropping a 75-64 verdict at Texas Tech. Kansas State is one game behind the Red Raiders (12-13, 3-11) and Texas A&M (7-18, 3-11) in last.

Tied with Oklahoma State in second is No. 14 Texas (20-7, 11-3),which had no trouble beating Texas A&M Saturday 85-58. One game farther back is No. 20 Oklahoma (22-5, 10-4) after it beat cold-shooting Missouri (16-10, 9-5) 83-56. No. 23 Kansas (21-7,10-4) is tied with Oklahoma.

The Jayhawks, the preseason favorite among most prognosticators, escaped with an 80-70 victory over Baylor (12-13, 3-11) and will have a key showdown with the Longhorns Monday night in Austin, Texas.

In the other Big 12 game over the weekend, Nebraska beat Colorado 69-64. One reason for all the emotion at Iowa State's Hilton Coliseum on Saturday was the fact it's the last home game of the year â€“ and will be the last home game for Fizer if the 6-foot-8 junior opts for the NBA draft.

The Cyclones will finish the regular season with two trips to Texas. They're at Texas Tech on Wednesday and conclude what could be their first championship season since 1945 with a trip to Baylor on Saturday.

Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton doesn't figure on getting any help from anybody in Texas. "I'd be surprised if Iowa State is beaten," Sutton said. "I'm not sure Texas Tech and Baylor can beat this team. We need help now, and I'm not sure I'd bet on that."

Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy doesn't see it that way. "I honestly thought this was going to be the easiest of the three we had left," Eustachy said. "That's no knock against Oklahoma State, but I said it because the game was at Hilton Coliseum. Now we have to go on the road to be the outright conference champions."

Fizer had another huge game with 29 points and now has 94 points in his last three games. It sounds like he's not planning to return for his senior season. "I'm in total disbelief, knowing that it's almost over," Fizersaid. "We know the Texas trip will be extremely hard, and I'm yetto win at Texas Tech and Baylor."

Kansas coach Roy Williams didn't try to duck the question of whether the Jayhawks were looking ahead, perhaps just a bit, to Monday night's Texas game while failing to put away a Baylor team that's only one game ahead of Kansas State. "It's human nature," Williams said. "I don't think the kids were as fired up or as motivated tonight as they should have been. You can say they were looking forward to the opportunity to play Texas or say anything you want to, but Baylor was more aggressive for a huge part of the game, and we were very fortunate to win."