Keshon Gilbert scored six of his 24 points in the final 44 seconds to propel No. 5 Iowa State to an 89-84 win over Dayton in the consolation bracket of the Maui Invitational on Tuesday in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Curtis Jones delivered 19 points off the bench as Iowa State (4-1) recovered from an agonizing loss to No. 4 Auburn on Monday in the opening round of the tournament.
It was a tie game when Gilbert drew a foul with 44 seconds left and then swished two free throws to give the Cyclones the lead for good.
Then, as Iowa State retained possession, Gilbert made a daring drive down the lane and scored high off the glass to make it 85-81 with 26 seconds to go.
Dishon Jackson contributed 12 points and six rebounds and Milan Momcilovic added 10 points as the Cyclones advanced to the fifth-place game on Wednesday against Colorado.
Iowa State made 51.7 percent of its shots from the floor and 4 of 17 (23.5 percent) from 3-point range.
Malachi Smith provided a career-high 22 points and nine assists to pace Dayton (5-2), which moves on to a tough matchup in the seventh-place game against No. 2 UConn.
Enoch Cheeks scored 16 points and Zed Key added 15 points for the Flyers, who made 58 percent of their field-goal attempts and 7 of 18 shots from 3-point range (38.9 percent).
In a game in which neither team led by a double-digit margin, Dayton was up by as many as nine points in the first half and Iowa State had the same gap in the second half.
Iowa State pushed its advantage to 61-52 after Jones made a pull-up 3-pointer and followed with a driving layup with 11:48 left.
However, Dayton rallied to take a 74-72 lead with 5:12 left as Cheeks drained a 3-pointer.
The game remained close until the final minute when Gilbert made the big plays for the Cyclones.
The Flyers made a charge late in the first half, taking a 36-27 advantage with an 8-0 run punctuated by two free throws from Hamad Mousa.
The Cyclones closed the half with a corner 3-pointer from Jones, cutting Dayton’s lead to 41-37 at the break.
–Field Level Media
