No. 9 Missouri gets past Iowa State 76-69

AMES (AP) ? No. 9 Missouri was down to five players with a minute left and the host Cyclones breathing down its neck.

The undermanned Tigers responded in the clutch yet again and put their only loss of the season behind them.

Matt Pressey led six players in double figures with 14 points and the Tigers got past Iowa State 76-69 on Wednesday night.

Phil Pressey and Ricardo Ratliffe each added 12 points for the Tigers (15-1, 2-1 Big 12), who bounced back from a 75-59 loss at Kansas State with a team effort ? even though that team normally uses only seven players.

?We were mentally tough down the stretch, as far as getting stops and rebounding,? Matt Pressey said. ?We?ve really grown from that standpoint.?

The only Missouri player to fall short of 10 points was leading scorer Marcus Denmon. But he had a game-high seven assists and four crucial free throws in the final 21 seconds after Kim English and Steve Moore had fouled out.

Missouri pushed a four-point lead to 72-66 on Ratliffe?s hook shot with 32 seconds left. Iowa State?s Chris Allen responded with a quick 3, but Denmon put the Cyclones away at the line.

?They?ve bought into playing together as a team,? Missouri coach Frank Haith said. ?We?ve got a lot of guys that can score. But we don?t have a lot of guys. It?s no secret. We?re not going to get any taller between now and the end of the year. We?re not going to add any dudes. This is what we got.?

Scott Christopherson had 19 points and Allen scored 17 for Iowa State (12-4, 2-1), which lost for the first time in eight games.