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Iwundu, Kansas State upset No. 12 Iowa State

Mar 1, 2015 - 5:09 AM Manhattan, KS (SportsNetwork.com) - The same two plays that made Wesley Iwundu the hero turned Georges Niang into the goat.

Iwundu scored four points in the final 43 seconds off two big defensive plays against Niang and Kansas State rallied from 12 points down to beat No. 12 Iowa State 70-69 on Saturday.

Iwundu won the game with a dunk after stealing Niang's inbounds pass on the Kansas State side of the court.

Moments earlier, he blocked Niang's shot behind the 3-point line and took off for a fastbreak layup to cap a 20-6 Kansas State run and pull the Wildcats all the way out of a 12-point hole.

It gave Kansas State the lead, though Iwundu missed his free throw after being fouled on the play.

Monte Morris' three-point play gave Iowa State the lead with 29.1 seconds left and Justin Edwards missed a layup for Kansas State at the other end. But after the Cyclones were awarded a controversial timeout, Iwundu jumped Niang's pass and broke to the basket for his go-ahead dunk with 16 seconds remaining.

"We wanted to get it up top and let Georges (Niang) make a play with the side cleared," said Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg. "They made a good switch and forced a long pass."

Naz Long then airballed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for Iowa State, which has dropped two games in a row for the first time this season.

The Cyclones were coming off a 79-70 loss to No. 19 Baylor on Wednesday, which snapped a three-game winning streak.

Nigel Johnson scored 17 points and Justin Edwards had 16 for Kansas State (15-15, 8-9 Big 12), which got only its third win in the last 10 games. Iwundu scored 11.

"It is just about staying positive throughout the rest of the season," said Iwundu. "For the rest of the games, we do not know what is going to happen as Coach Weber said, just keep playing and maybe we can win the conference tournament. So we just have to keep playing."

Niang scored a game-high 21 points for Iowa State (20-8, 10-6) while Morris had 15 and Jameel McKay added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cyclones had controlled the game since a 12-2 run in the first half gave them a 14-point lead on the way to a 40-33 advantage at the break.

Iwundu's go-ahead layup with 43 seconds remaining gave Kansas State its first lead since eight minutes into the opening half. He had four blocks in the game.

Game Notes

Kansas State is 137-83 all-time against Iowa State after snapping a two-game losing streak in the series. Iowa State beat Kansas State 77-71 on Jan. 20 in Ames ... The Cyclones host Oklahoma on Monday ... Kansas State finishes the regular season next Saturday at Texas.