No. 17 Iowa St. 72, Missouri 62

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- An ugly half time scene didn't ruin Iowa State's evening. Marcus Fizer matched his season high with 28 points and had 12 rebounds as the 17th-ranked Cyclones shook off coach

Thursday, February 10th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- An ugly half time scene didn't ruin Iowa State's evening. Marcus Fizer matched his season high with 28 points and had 12 rebounds as the 17th-ranked Cyclones shook off coach Larry Eustachy's emotional outburst to beat Missouri 72-62 Wednesday night. "I wanted to say my piece and it's way behind me now, had wewon or lost," Eustachy said.
"Technicals happen, and confrontations happen, and let's not overreact on anything."

Iowa State trailed by five points at half time after a controversial buzzer-beating basket by Keyon Dooling. It appeared that Dooling launched his shot from mid-air in the lane just after the horn. Eustachy was assessed a technical foul for vigorously arguing the call. There was some jostling as he was hustled off the court by campus police, who jumped into the situation. At one point, a female officer grabbed Eustachy by the arm, and he reportedly accused her of assault on the way to the locker room.

After the game, he backed off those comments. "I'm not sure if I said that," Eustachy said. "I was walkingout of here upset. Nobody assaulted me. Let's talk about the ballgame, OK? Why don't we do that?"

Campus police chief Fred Otto said the officers were court side to assist the referees in leaving the floor. "Then everything kind of happened at once," Otto said. "I think it was the heat of the moment, and we were just doing our job."

Brian Grawer hit the two free throws for the technical before the second half began for a 40-35 lead. Then Iowa State took off. "I thought that was going to be the turning point," Missouri guard Clarence Gilbert said. "It went totally opposite." EState took control with a 12-0 run. Kantrail Horton hit two 3-pointers in a span of 55 seconds as the Cyclones went ahead 51-44 with 13:25 to go, and gave his coach an assist. "It's how intense he is, how bad he wanted to win," Horton said. "He stands behind us."

Missouri cut the gap to 57-56 on 3-pointers by Rush and Dooling, the latter with 7:13 to go. Iowa State answered with 10 straight points. Iowa State (20-3, 8-1 Big 12) has won 17 of its last 18 games and tied Oklahoma State for first place in the Big 12. The lone loss in that stretch was in double overtime at Oklahoma on Jan. 22. "It's great, but there's still more games and tough opponents ahead of us," Eustachy said. "We'll enjoy it tonight."

Fizer was 11-for-16 and recorded his 20th career double-double --and second in as many games. Missouri (14-7, 7-2) had no one to counter Fizer inside as he tied his season high for points. "He's the best player in America," Gilbert said. "He's a beast," said forward Johnnie Parker, one of several Tigers who tried to guard Fizer. Fizer is playing in pain, with heel and ankle spurs on his right foot. "Once it loosens up, I'm pretty good to go," Fizer said. "In a big game like this I wasn't going to let an injury get me down, so I went out there and played as hard as I could."

Stevie Johnson added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Iowa State, and Jamaal Tinsley had 15 points. Dooling had 18 points and Kareem Rush added 17 for Missouri, which had won seven straight conference games since losing by five at Iowa State on Jan. 8. The Tigers shot 35 percent in the second half and 38.5 percent overall; they shot 49 percent during the winning streak. Iowa State had held its last 31 opponents below 50 per cent shooting. Iowa State is 3-1 on the road in the Big 12 after going 1-15 the previous two seasons.