No. 23 Iowa State pulls away from North Dakota 63-44

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Caleb Grill scored 16 points as No. 23 Iowa State shook off a sluggish first half and defeated North Dakota 63-44 on Wednesday night.

Grill connected on 4 of 5 3-point tries for the Cyclones (6-1), while the Fighting Hawks (5-4) went 7 of 26 (26.9%) from behind the arc.

Tamin Lipsey added 11 points for Iowa State, which used a 15-3 run early in the second half to pull away.

Matt Norman led North Dakota with nine points.

A dunk by Grill gave the Cyclones a 36-27 advantage and Aljaz Kunc followed with a 3-pointer.

The Fighting Hawks remained within striking distance until Lipsey made a 3-pointer to put the Cyclones ahead 53-39 with seven minutes left.

Iowa State made one of its first nine shots and hit 32.4% of its attempts in the first half.

The first 20 minutes featured eight lead changes. The Cyclones held a 26-24 edge at the break.

BIG PICTURE

Iowa State made its debut in the AP Top 25 after beating then-No. 1 North Carolina last week. Wednesday's win was the Cyclones' 15th straight at home against nonconference foes.

UP NEXT

North Dakota heads west for its next two games, playing at Portland on Saturday and Idaho on Tuesday.

Iowa State hosts St. John's (8-0) on Sunday in the Big East/Big 12 Battle.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25