Iowa State's quick start sends MU to lopsided loss

AMES, Iowa -- Tim Barnes scored 24 points and Jackson Vroman added 14 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists as Iowa State, playing under difficult circumstances, rolled past Missouri 71-55 Wednesday night.

Iowa State (14-11, 5-10 Big 12) built a 16-point lead 10 minutes into the game and dominated a Missouri team that had won four of five and beat then-No. 3 Oklahoma a week ago.

Missouri (18-8, 9-6) never got back into the game after Iowa State's early surge. Rickey Paulding and Travon Bryant led the Tigers with 18 points each.

The game was played just hours after the death of Pete Taylor, the longtime radio voice for Iowa State football and basketball and an associate athletic director at the school. Taylor, 57, died after undergoing brain surgery.

On Monday, assistant coach Randy Brown resigned after being charged with possession of child pornography. And top reserve Marcus Jefferson missed the game to be with his ailing mother in East Chicago, Ind.

But if the Cyclones were spent, it didn't show. They beat the Tigers down the floor in transition, outhustled them for offensive rebounds and never let up.

Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy, who was good friends with Taylor, had tears streaming down his cheek as he went to shake hands with Missouri coach Quin Snyder after the game.

Jared Homan scored 15 points for Iowa State, while Jake Sullivan and Adam Haluska had nine each.

Iowa State made seven of its first nine shots in jumping to a 15-2 lead. Vroman and Homan got inside for baskets, while Sullivan and Barnes connected from the perimeter.

Barnes' 3-pointer from the right corner and a jumper by Sullivan made it 21-5, and the Cyclones led 33-17 when Vroman backed in for a basket with 1:47 left in the half. It was 33-19 at halftime and Iowa State kept it up in the second half.

Barnes and Haluska each hit two 3-pointers as the lead grew to 45-23. Barnes got his second 3 after one of Vroman's five offensive rebounds. Iowa State went on to lead by as many as 23 and when Missouri managed to get within 14, only 3:20 remained and the Tigers got no closer.

There was a moment of silence in Taylor's memory before the game. Iowa State staffers wore ribbons in the school colors of cardinal and gold and the players wore black strips on the left shoulder strap of their uniforms.

Vroman had a double-double at halftime with 11 rebounds and 10 points. He reached double figures in rebounds for the fifth straight game, the first Iowa State player to do that since Loren Meyer had six in a row in the 1994-95 season.