Iowa St. 69, West Virginia 67

Jan 16, 2013, 11:21 pm

AMES, Iowa -- Freshman Georges Niang hit a layup with 2.5 seconds left and Iowa State beat West Virginia 69-67 Wednesday night despite blowing an 18-point lead.

Melvin Ejim had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Cyclones (12-4, 2-1 Big 12), who survived an unexpectedly wild finish for their second straight win.

Iowa State opened the second half with an 18-4 run and led by as much as 56-38. The Mountaineers (8-8, 1-3) tied it at 67 on 3 by Jabarie Hinds with 11.6 seconds left, but Niang got wide open for the game-winner underneath the basket.

Hinds had 20 points for West Virginia. Juwan Staten, the Mountaineers second-leading scorer, had seven points and seven assists after being benched by coach Bob Huggins for the previous three halves.

West Virginia missed its first 12 3-point attempts before hitting nine of its last 12.