in the closing minutes with a bloody towel pressed tightly to his forehea

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Georges Niang walked off the floor in the closing minutes with a bloody towel pressed tightly to his forehead, pumping his fist and riling up the Iowa State fans in the Sprint Center. Turns out he was just jumpstarting the celebration. Niang scored 25 points before leaving with that gash above his right eye, and the No. 16 Cyclones held on down the stretch to beat No. 10 Kansas 94-83 Friday night and reach their first Big 12 tournament title game since 2000. "We love competing for championships," Niang said later, a bandage over his wound. "Coach says take it one day at a time, but the Big 12 championship is one day away from us." DeAndre Kane had five 3-pointers and scored 20 points, and Big 12 player of the year Melvin Ejim added 19 points for the fourth-seeded Cyclones (25-8), who will play for just their second tournament title Saturday night against the winner of Texas-Baylor. The victory for Iowa State represented its first in four tries against Kansas in the Big 12 tournament, and its first over the Jayhawks in Kansas City since March 10, 1996, when the schools were still part of the Big Eight. It also allowed Iowa State to match its 2001 team for the second-most wins in school history, trailing only the 32 wins piled up by the 2000 team. Incidentally, it was that team that won the Cyclones only Big 12 tournament title. "Its a great win for us, for the fact it gives us confidence we can compete with anyone in the nation," Cyclones coach Fred Hoiberg said. "It was good to finally get one of these after struggling to close out games against Kansas the past few years." Relying on some hot outside shooting, Iowa State took charge in the second half, and then held on as the top-seeded Jayhawks (24-9) tried to make a late run to get back into the game. Perry Ellis led Kansas with 30 points. Andrew Wiggins finished with 22. The Jayhawks again were playing without 7-footer Joel Embiid, the leagues defensive player of the year, and his rim-protecting presence was sorely missed. The freshman has a stress fracture in his back and is likely out until at least the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. "Joel not being in there, he could probably guard Niang better," Kansas coach Bill Self said, "but I think it was more a collection of everybody rather than just one individual." The Sprint Center was packed to the rafters with fans eager to see whether Iowa State could finally end its five-game losing streak against the Jayhawks, or whether Kansas could burnish what it hoped would be a resume worthy of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The teams got after it right from the tip, racing up and down the floor in what amounted to a series of 94-foot wind sprints. Iowa State got the better of it early, forging a 23-16 lead, but the Jayhawks countered with a brutally efficient 20-3 charge to take control. Things got so intense that the normally placid Hoiberg was rung up with a technical foul after Kane appeared to be hammered on the way to the basket and no foul was called. "I used a bad word," Hoiberg said sheepishly. "Im not going to say I didnt." The Jayhawks lead was also short-lived. Kane started the comeback by converting a three-point play, Ejim and Niang went to work inside, and the Cyclones tied it 46-all in the closing minutes of the first half when Kane knocked down another shot from the corner. Their hot perimeter shooting continued in the second half, when the Cyclones turned a 48-46 deficit into a 66-57 lead, the last points in the run on a deep ball from Naz Long. By that point, Iowa State was 11 of 16 from the 3-point line. "We were on our heels defensively throughout the game," Ellis said. "I felt in the first half we did a lot better. In the second half, we let too many straight-line drives to the basket." The Jayhawks eventually extended their defence to the perimeter, and thats when Iowa State started going to the basket again. Niang scored four straight baskets for Iowa State during one stretch that made it 81-72, and scored on three straight trips to make it 86-74. The lead never got much smaller, even after Niang was whacked in the face during a scrum under the basket, prompting him to start the party for the Iowa State fans in attendance. "We felt like we had these guys in the second half," Niang said. "We came out and threw the first punch and from there it was clear skies." Custom Los Angeles Rams Jerseys . Catch all the action on TSN2 and TSN GO at 9pm et/6pm pt. San Antonio took the series lead Monday night with a 122-105 home victory in Game 1. The Spurs used a balanced scoring attack and clamped down defensively late in the third quarter to claim the win. Jared Goff Jersey . Henderson (20-3) received winning scores of 48-47 and 49-46, and the other judge scored it 48-47 for Thomson (20-6). The announcement drew boos from the United Center crowd. "Train this hard for this long, its such a long camp and I see my title shot disappear," said Thomson, who fought most of the fight with a broken right hand. http://www.footballramsshop.us/authentic-greg-gaines-rams-jersey/ . The Bulls seem to be getting along fine without him. D.J. Augustin scored 27 points in a start for Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson matched a career high with 26 filling in for Carlos Boozer as the Bulls improved to 7-2 since trading the popular Deng with a 98-87 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. Nolan Cromwell Youth Jersey . But its also a smart game. Theres more to the Kings than banging bodies. They take a toll mentally on their opponents. Darrell Henderson Jersey . With just under five seconds remaining - the Raptors having clawed back from a 19-point deficit and pulled within one - DeRozan took the handoff from Chuck Hayes.ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues acquired Ryan Miller for moments such as these. Miller stopped 31 shots and kept the net empty in a shootout, too. He was precisely as advertised, a goalie that be a difference-maker when theres no room for mistakes. "Millsy standing on his head -- thats what we brought him here to do," forward T.J. Oshie said after the Blues outlasted the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0 on Tuesday night and matched the franchise record with their 51st win. "There were some saves where you feel like youre about to put your head down because its going to go in the net, and he seems so calm and just sticks his pad out and saves it." Miller is 10-3-1 with a 2.01 goals-against average and .920 save percentage since coming in a trade with Buffalo. Oshie and Kevin Shattenkirk scored in the shootout for the Blues, who have 109 points -- one fewer than Boston for the top spot in the NHL. Theyre 9-3 in the shootout largely because of Oshie, whos an uncanny 9 for 12 after converting a backhand, and also put on quite a show at the Sochi Olympics. "Yeah, I knew he was good and I knew what to expect," Ray Emery said. "But he was real quick on that one." Miller earned his 29th career shutout and first in 101 games since March 21, 2012, against Montreal when he was with Buffalo. He made a skate save against Vincent Lecavalier and a glove save on Claude Giroux -- whos 5 for 10 -- in the shootout. Emery, the Flyers backup making just his third start since the beginning of March, earned his 16th career shutout and second this season. "He definitely won us a point tonight," Flyers forward Scott Hartnell said. "In two weeks when the seasons over well see how big that point is." Miller was motivated after giving up four goals in a loss to Dallas on Saturday night, plus the Flyers are a familiar foe from his seasons in Buffalo. Hes 14-13-2 againnst the Flyers and this was his first shutout against them.dddddddddddd "It was a fun night," Miller said. "When the pucks are hitting you, its a lot of fun." It was the third 1-0 shootout victory in Blues history and first since Feb. 1, 2008, against Anaheim. One of Millers best saves came with 1:30 to go in overtime when he stretched out and denied Jakub Voraceks bid to slide the puck under his pads. "At this point in my career, Im just trying to be really calm about everything," Miller said. "No sense letting things get off the rails and panicking too much." Both teams killed penalties in the final five minutes of regulation, with a high-sticking call to Giroux stretching into the first 36 seconds of overtime for Philadelphia. St. Louis penalty killers have allowed three goals on 36 chances the past 12 home games. The Flyers played in St. Louis for the first time since the 2010-11 opener. Miller foiled two breakaways in the opening minutes, one created when defencemen Alex Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk collided. He made an outstanding left pad save on Michael Raffl to thwart a 2-on-1 break early in the second period. Two Blues hit the goalpost in the second period, Jaden Schwartz in the opening minute and Pietrangelo in the final minute. Notes: Flyers D Kimmo Timonen did not make the trip after taking a puck to the chin. Alex Gustafsson played for the first time since Feb. 27. ... The Blues tricked a fan between the second and third periods who was blindfolded at centre ice and then shot several yards wide of the net, telling him hed won $15,000. The fan did a celebratory belly flop on the ice before being told hed been duped. ... The Blues last 0-0 regulation game was March 22, 2012, at Los Angeles, a 1-0 shootout loss. ... The Flyers have been shut out four times. ... The Blues also won 51 games in 1999-2000, when they won the Presidents Trophy. ' ' '