Iowa State alone at top after victory at Kansas and Oklahoma State loss

Friday, February 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Late into the game, it looked as though struggling Kansas was about to shake off its recent troubles with an upset victory over No. 14 Iowa State. But then a series of untimely turnovers dashed the hopes of the wildly enthusiastic Allen Fieldhouse crowd.

And when it was all over, the Cyclones emerged with a 64-62 victory -- their first over the Jayhawks in Lawrence since 1982. That, coupled with Oklahoma State's upset by Texas, leaves Iowa State alone at the top of the Big 12 conference standings.

The Cowboys are 10-1, with Oklahoma State and Texas, which both have to play the Cyclones at Ames next week, tied for second at 9-2. Marcus Fizer led Iowa State with 15 points, including a key basket with 6 seconds to play. At Austin, Gabe Muoneke came off the bench to score 17 points in leading No. 17 Texas past No. 8 Oklahoma State 68-57.

In other Big 12 action Wednesday night, Baylor beat Texas A&M 63-54. "This is monumental," Iowa State's second-year coach Larry Eustachy said after his 22-3 Cyclones triumphed in Lawrence after having lost 17 straight games there. "For us to come in here and do it, it tells a lot."

He said the Kansas crowd was the loudest he's heard all season. "We just performed in spite of it," he said. "It was a game of spurts, and we had a spurt at the end." "We turned the ball over three consecutive times and they capitalized on all three," said Kansas coach Roy Williams, struggling through his worst season in 11 years with the Jayhawks (18-7, 7-4.) "We lost our poise down the stretch."

The No. 24 Jayhawks opened an 18-11 lead in the first half but saw it shrink to 26-25 at half time. After missing the first 13 shots he took, Jeff Boschee hit a 3-pointer that put Kansas ahead 57-48 with 4:41 left in the game Iowa State closed the gap to four points, but Boschee's two free throws put the Jayhawks ahead 59-53 with 3:06 remaining.

Then the turnovers enabled the Cyclones to tie the score at 59,and they went ahead 61-59 on Michael Nurse's two free throws with 1:11 left. "Those last three turnovers were mental turnovers," said Boschee, who made only two of the 17 shots he took. "I thought we were close to putting them away. Then they made some big shots."

Fizer's off-balance jumper just ahead of the shot-clock buzzer gave Iowa State a 63-59 lead before Boschee made another 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds to go. Paul Shirley hit a free throw in the final second to clinch the win and give the streaking Cyclones their first road victory over a ranked opponent since 1987.

Muoneke, taken out of the starting lineup last week, scored eight straight points in a critical stretch of the second half that broke the game open for Texas in its victory over Oklahoma State. "I like him off the bench," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "I know what Gabe is going to bring. Gabe is such a great player. The last couple of games, he's gone in and really changed the game."

Barnes first benched Muoneke to discipline him for a flare-up in practice. He had scored just six points in a blowout loss at Oklahoma. Since then, Texas (18-6, 9-2 Big 12) has won three straight and positioned itself to defend its conference title. Barnes said he's tempted to keep using Muoneke as a reserve for no other reason than it is working. "The thing I don't like is that people think this is disciplinary from three games ago, and that's just not true," Barnes said. "It takes a big person to do what he's doing, but winning means as much to him as anything."

Muoneke's size was a big factor against the Cowboys, an athletic team that didn't have the muscle to stop him near the basket. Texas led 40-33 early in the second half when Muoneke went on his scoring spree, forcing his way inside for short jumpers and lay ups for a4 8-35 lead with 13:55 left to play. "At 250 pounds, if you get half a step on somebody, there's notmuch they can do about it," Muoneke said. "Muoneke just got aggressive all of a sudden," said Desmond Mason, who led the Cowboys with 12 points. "He got the ball down deep, and once he gets it that deep, he can't be stopped."

Mason supplied his own surge with seven points in two minutes as the Cowboys (20-3, 9-2) pulled to 48-44. Muoneke answered with a dunk, and Texas quickly pushed the lead to 54-44. Mason, who scored 30 points when Oklahoma State beat Texas 73-65 in January, was 4-of-13 from the field in the rematch.

Baylor's Tevis Stuke scored eight of his 20 points in the last 4:30 in the victory over Texas A&M. Stukes, playing with back spasms, hit five of six free throws and a timely 3-pointer down the stretch, leading the Bears (12-10,3-8 Big 12) on a 15 -1 run to close out the game. Texas A&M (7-15, 3-8) tied the game at 44 with eight minutes remaining after trailing 41-28 three minutes into the second half. Freshman guard Bernard King scored eight of his 21 points during the run but ran into foul trouble with four minutes left in the game.