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Niang, No. 15 Iowa State down WVU

Feb 27, 2014 - 4:26 AM Ames, IA (SportsNetwork.com) - The first time West Virginia played Iowa State, the Mountaineers won by holding Melvin Ejim to six points on 1-of-9 shooting.

Fast forward 16 days and the Mountaineers again limited the Big 12's top scorer, but WVU couldn't contain the other key players as the 15th-ranked Cyclones earned an 83-66 victory at Hilton Coliseum.

Ejim, who was hampered with foul trouble, netted seven points, which was nearly 12 below his season average. Georges Niang had 24 points and seven rebounds and DeAndre Kane totaled 17 points and 11 boards for Iowa State.

Dustin Hogue finished with 15 points and nine rebounds, and Naz Long tallied 15 points on a 5-of-7 showing from beyond the arc for the Cyclones (22-5, 10-5 Big 12), who won their fourth straight game.

Juwan Staten scored 19 and Eron Harris had 15 for the Mountaineers (15-13, 7-8), who lost their third in a row. WVU, which won at home over Iowa State 102-77 on Feb. 10, also received 14 points from Remi Dibo.

Ejim, who missed most of the second half due to foul trouble, was 3-of-7 from the field and had seven rebounds. He was also given a technical foul.

The Cyclones used a 24-5 run in the first half to take control. Hogue converted a pair of layups to cap the rally to widen Iowa State's lead to 28-14 with under nine minutes left. It was 39-33 in favor of the hosts at the break.

"Dustin Hogue I give a ton of credit for being the guy that was doing the dirty work for us," Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg said. "He was staying in that little area below the basket we call 'the room' and getting the dump-off pass and keeping great spacing out there. The two-man game was working well. We cleared a side of the floor and Dustin was the recipient of a lot of that."

A layup from Harris had the visitors within 66-59 with 8 1/2 minutes to go, but Niang countered with a pair of free throws. Niang later drained a jumper to start a 7-0 spurt that sealed the outcome. Monte Morris finished the burst by sinking two from the charity stripe for an 81-65 difference with barely over two minutes left.

"We didn't get stops and we didn't make any shots," WVU coach Bob Huggins said. "We have to make open shots."

Game Notes

Morris had 12 assists and seven rebounds to go with five points ... Iowa State is 14-1 at home ... The Cyclones shot 50.8 percent compared to 35.8 for WVU ... This is the third straight 10-win conference season for the Cyclones, the first in program history. They also moved to 7-1 this month, the first time they've won seven conference games in a single month.