March 6, 2004

Box Score

By BETSY BLANEY
Associated Press Writer

LUBBOCK, Texas - Ronald Ross scored 23 points as Texas Tech closed its regular season Saturday with a 72-58 win over Iowa State.

The win gave Tech coach Bob Knight his 830th career win, tying Jimmy Phelan, who retired from Mount St. Mary's last year after 49 seasons. Knight, in his 38th season, trails only Dean Smith of North Carolina (879) and Adolph Rupp of Kentucky (876) among Division I male coaches.

The Red Raiders finished the regular season with only one loss at home, a 62-61 overtime loss to then-No. 16 Texas in late February.

Trailing by 13 at halftime, the Cyclones (16-11, 7-9 Big 12) whittled the margin to eight points at 36-44 early in the second half. But Tech (21-9, 9-7) used a 9-3 run to go up 53-39 on a steal and layup by Jarrius Jackson with 11:28 remaining.

Iowa State failed to mount a serious threat after that.

The Red Raiders got their largest lead at 72-54 on a slam dunk by Ross with 1:21 left.

Tech's win was the result of hot shooting. The team hit on 28 of 55 from the field or 51 percent.

Jarrius Jackson scored 17 points, while Devonne Giles added 12 for Tech

Curtis Stinson scored 17 points, and Jackson Vroman and Jared Homan got 13 each to lead the Cyclones.

Tech led 42-29 at halftime. The Red Raiders used runs of 20-6 and 11-2 to build its largest first half-lead at 40-24 with about a minute remaining. In the latter run, Ross got seven on two 3-pointers and a free throw, while Giles got the other five.