MILWAUKEE — Milan Momcilovic had 20 points, Curtis Jones added 17 and third-seeded Iowa State rolled past 14th-seeded Lipscomb 82-55 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament South Region on Friday.
Iowa State (25-9) will face sixth-seeded Ole Miss in the second round Sunday.
The Cyclones led 40-24 at the half and extended the advantage to 56-30 with 12:09 remaining. The Bisons missed five consecutive shots over a scoring drought of almost 4 1/2 minutes as Iowa State went on a 10-0 run.
Momcilovic’s 3- pointer put Iowa State up 69-38 with 6:37 remaining.
“He’s a very complete, gifted, skilled basketball player,” Otzelberger, a Milwaukee native, said of Momcilovic, who played high school basketball in nearby Pewaukee, Wis. “He’s got a lot of confidence. He’s been playing with tremendous confidence this last month. Just proud of him because he continues to work.”
Joshua Jefferson and Tamin Lipsey each added 10 points for Iowa State, which played without starting guard Keshon Gilbert, who was declared out for the tournament with a groin injury. Jefferson also had eight rebounds and eight assists.
Jacob Ognacevic, the Atlantic Sun Conference player of the year, had 18 points for Lipscomb (25-10), whose only other NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2018. Gyasi Powell added 11 points for the Bisons.
Iowa State shot 58.3 percent, hitting 35 of 60 shots. The Cyclones also had a 35-23 rebounding edge and an overwhelming 50-20 advantage on points in the paint.
Lipscomb, which had won 11 of its previous 12 games, shot 37.3 percent and was 8 of 28 from 3-point range. The Bisons committed 17 turnovers, leading to 23 Cyclones points.
Iowa State hit five consecutive shots to trigger a 14-0 run and open a 29-16 lead with 7:16 left in the first half. The Bisons went almost five minutes without scoring, missing six consecutive shots over that span.
Jones converted a turnover into a breakaway layup to cap a 22-5 run that extended the lead to 37-21.
“We knew that they could score in bunches the way they shoot the basketball ball and they play for one another,” Otzelberger said. “Fortunately, our guys had great poise during that moment, there wasn’t panic. We didn’t rush or do anything out of character. And then Milan, truthfully, he just took over the game.”
The Cyclones set the tone inside early with a 26-6 edge in points in the paint in the first half. Iowa State scored 10 first-half points off seven turnovers.
“They’re just one of the few teams in the country that just pound the ball inside,” Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff said. “They just really took it at us at four and five. We’re fighting, but we just didn’t really have an answer.”
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
