LAHAINA, Hawaii – Justin Coleman scored a season-high 18 points to lead Arizona to a 71-66 comeback win over Iowa State in a first-round Maui Invitational game at the Lahaina Civic Center.
The Wildcats trailed by nine points at halftime and by 10 with 11 minutes to go, but fueled their comeback with defense and Coleman's shooting. Iowa State shot just 34.5 percent in the second half after taking a 36-27 halftime lead.
Playing without four rotation players including standout guard Lindell Wigginton, the Cyclones made just 4 of 24 3-pointers and committed 14 turnovers, leading to a 16-11 Arizona advantage in points scored off turnovers.
Arizona shot 40.7 percent overall and was outrebounded 40-34. Chase Jeter added 10 points and 12 rebounds for Arizona while Marial Shayok led Iowa State with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
The game entered the final four minutes tied at 58 and Coleman tied it again at 60 by driving to 12 feet and sinking a jumper.
Coleman gave UA a 63-30 lead with 1:49 left but Iowa State tied it again at 63 by hitting 3 of 4 free throws.
But the Wildcats took the lead for good when Ryan Luther hit two free throws with 39 seconds left to give UA a 65-63 lead with 39 seconds, and Brandon Williams hit another two with 24 seconds left.
With 12.5 seconds left, Brandon Randolph hit another two free throws for the Wildcats' final score to make it 69-63, though Michael Jacobson made a three-point play to cut the Wildcats' lead to 69-66 with four seconds left. From there, the Cyclones fouled Williams, but he hit both free throws for the final score.
Trailing by nine at halftime, the Wildcats went immediately to Luther for a 3-pointer and later cut it to within 43-37 on a 3 from Coleman.
The Cyclones went ahead by 10, 54-44, when Nick Weiler-Babb hit a 3-pointer with 10:54 left but the Wildcats’ defense kicked back in to help them pull into a 56-56 tie with 5:02 left.
Chase Jeter scored in traffic after Luther picked up an Iowa State turnover, and after several misses on both ends, Coleman drove inside for a finger-roll layup that tied the game at 56.
After posting 16 assists to zero turnovers over UA’s first three games, UA freshman guard Brandon Williams dished another four assists before committing his first turnover of the season with 14:11 remaining in the half. He finished with
While falling behind 36-27 in the first half, Arizona shot just 30 percent from the field and was 2-14 from 3-point territory while being outrebounded 24-15.
Iowa State trailed over the first 10 minutes while missing their first nine 3-pointers. But their offense warmed up as the half went on, with guard Marial Shyok capping it by scoring seven points in the final two minutes – including a dunk and 3-pointer -- while UA had a late scoreless drought of over two minutes.
Shayok led Iowa State with 13 points and eight rebounds for the half, while Brandon Randolph led UA with eight points.
Arizona’s defense helped the Wildcats take an early jump during a particularly hard-played initial four minutes. The Wildcats went ahead 8-4 at the first media timeout when Iowa State went 2-7 from the field and had two turnovers in the first four minutes.
But the Cyclones kept UA scoreless for nearly four minutes to jump ahead 15-14 after an eight-footer by Shayok, and Iowa State later went ahead 20-18 when Weiler-Babb picked up an errant pass from Brandon Randolph and took it coast-to-coast for a dunk.
That led to loud cheers inside the Lahaina Civic Center from a crowd dominated by Iowa State fans. Both Arizona and Iowa State filled up all their team-sold seats behind the team benches, but Iowa State fans also filled about a third of the other seats in the 2,400-seat arena.
