AP PHOTO - Iowa State’s Nate Heise (0) dunks over Lipscomb’s Miles White (5) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. The Cyclones defeated the Bisons 82-55.

MILWAUKEE — Milan Momcilovic scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half, and third-seeded Iowa State routed Lipscomb 82-55 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.

Curtis Jones had 17 points as Iowa State bounced back nicely after dropping four of seven going into the tourney. Joshua Jefferson finished with 10 points and eight assists.

Next up for the Cyclones (25-9) in the South Region is the winner of Mississippi versus North Carolina.

Momcilovic, a 6-foot-8 sophomore from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, made four 3-pointers and grabbed five rebounds.

“It means a lot to put on a show in front of friends and family. I wanted them to come to a good game and they got that,” Momcilovic said.

Jacob Ognacevic, the player of the year in the Atlantic Sun, led Lipscomb with 18 points. Gyasi Powell added 11.

Healthy again after being sidelined with a hand injury earlier in the season, Momcilovic took over in the first half. He scored 12 points in a 14-0 run that helped the Cyclones to a 40-24 halftime lead.

“I think I hit two or three 3s and then I took advantage of the smaller defender on me and took him down low,” Momcilovic said.

Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said his team remained poised as Lipscomb took an early lead.

“There wasn’t panic. We didn’t rush or do anything out of character,” he said. “And then Milan just took over the game. You could see his confidence growing once he saw it go through the basket and credit to his teammates for doing an unbelievable job of finding him.”

Iowa State’s size advantage bothered Lipscomb for much of the afternoon. It was the lowest scoring game of the season for the 14th-seeded Bisons (25-10).

“They are one of the few teams in the country that just pound the ball inside. They really took advantage of us,” Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff said. “We were fighting, but we just really didn’t have an answer. In order for us to win we knew we had to shoot it well. I think we made five 3s in the first 10 minutes and I don’t think we made another one for 20 minutes. They force you to get it off a little quicker. They have a little bit more length than we normally see.”

Takeaways

Lipscomb: The Bisons made just their second appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Their only other trip, as a 15-seed in 2018, resulted in an 84-66 loss to North Carolina.

Iowa State: Tamin Lipsey, who has been dealing with a groin injury that kept him out of Iowa State’s Big 12 Tournament loss to BYU, had 10 points in his return to the lineup. He provided a boost for a Cyclones team playing without second-leading scorer Keshon Gilbert because of a groin injury.

No. 15 Iowa St. 82, Lipscomb 55

LIPSCOMB (25-10) — Ognacevic 7-11 2-2 18, Williams 1-6 0-0 3, Anderson 1-9 0-1 3, Powell 3-9 2-2 11, Pruitt 2-6 3-3 7, Asman 1-4 0-0 2, Boylan 1-1 0-2 2, Houck 0-0 0-0 0, White 2-3 0-0 5, Candelino 0-1 0-0 0, Ingold 1-1 0-0 2, Suber 0-0 2-2 2, Carter 0-0 0-0 0, Lamey 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19-51 9-12 55.

IOWA ST. (25-9) — Jefferson 3-6 4-6 10, Momcilovic 8-14 0-0 20, Jackson 2-2 0-0 4, Heise 4-4 0-0 9, Lipsey 5-9 0-0 10, Jones 8-15 0-0 17, Kelderman 2-4 0-1 5, Chatfield 1-2 0-0 2, Hawley 0-0 0-0 0, Fish 1-1 1-1 3, Indrusaitis 0-1 0-0 0, Rock 1-2 0-0 2, Watson 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 35-60 5-8 82.

Halftime–Iowa St. 40-24. 3-Point Goals–Lipscomb 8-28 (Powell 3-6, Ognacevic 2-5, White 1-2, Williams 1-5, Anderson 1-6, Asman 0-1, Pruitt 0-3), Iowa St. 7-19 (Momcilovic 4-8, Heise 1-1, Kelderman 1-2, Jones 1-3, Chatfield 0-1, Jefferson 0-2, Lipsey 0-2). Rebounds–Lipscomb 20 (Anderson, Pruitt 5), Iowa St. 34 (Jefferson 8). Assists–Lipscomb 16 (Pruitt 5), Iowa St. 19 (Jefferson 8). Total Fouls–Lipscomb 10, Iowa St. 16.