Nate Heise's late 3-pointer boosts No. 6 Iowa State by No. 2 Houston, 70-67

AMES — It’s often said nothing good happens after 2 a.m.

But once Amy and Tony Heise — the parents of Iowa State guard Nate Heise and Team USA women’s hockey superstar Taylor Heise — woke up Tuesday morning for another day at the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, they probably wished they’d been awake.

“I think they went to sleep before the game,” said Nate Heise, who buried an end-of-shot-clock 3-pointer through the net with 1:17 left that helped the No. 6 Cyclones out last No. 2 Houston, late Monday at Hilton Coliseum. “So they’ll wake up to some fun texts, I think.”

Once Heise sank his momentous long-distance shot, it was probably about 5:15 a.m. Milan time — so maybe mom and dad are early risers. Either way, they’re the only parents in the world who can say they saw their daughter score a goal in Team USA’s 5-0 win in the semifinals over Sweden, and would eventually see their son come through in the clutch for ISU’s (23-3, 10-3 Big 12) second top-10 win in three days.

Heise finished with 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting, and also grabbed six rebounds off the bench for the Cyclones, who are now just one game back of the Cougars (23-3, 11-2) and Arizona in the Big 12 regular season time chase. Star forward Joshua Jefferson led the Cyclones with 12 points and standout senior point guard Tamin Lipsey finished with nine points and eight rebounds — the last of which came off a missed ISU free throw to essentially seal the game.

“He’s a true competitor and a true winner,” said backup ISU guard Jamarion Batemon, a true freshman who drilled a key 3-pointer for the Cyclones during a 10-0 run that tied the game, 63-63, with 3:45 remaining.

So is Batemon. His critical long-range basket came after ISU had started 0-for-9 from beyond the arc in the second half, and helped set the stage for Heise’s heroics.

“It’s funny,” said Heise, who’s grabbed at least five rebounds in seven of the past eight games. “With about a minute and half left, I went up to him and I told him either him or I are gonna have a 3 in the corner and it’s gonna win us the game.”

It turned out to be Heise, who drained his momentous shot as the cacophonous Hilton crowd chanted a countdown of “3-2-1.” Houston’s star freshman Kingston Flemings had just hit a short jumper in the paint to put his team up by one, at 67-66, 32 seconds earlier, but Heise responded with that corner dagger off Jefferson’s team-best fifth assist while his parents were possibly dreaming about next morning’s espresso.

“It was really one of the easier mindset things because you’ve really got no other choice,” Heise said. “You’re not gonna be bale to pass the ball — there’s not enough time — so when you’ve got no other choice, it’s just kind of muscle memory.”

So is winning top-10 games for Cyclone head coach T.J. Otzelberger, who’s done that a program-record 15 times in his four-plus seasons at the helm. But Monday’s proved tense throughout, as both elite defensive teams saw 10-point leads erased. ISU outscored the Cougars 12-to-0 in points off turnovers, though, and 28-to-16 in the paint while turning it over a season-low three times.

“I felt like our ability to take care of the basketball, share the basketball, and then, obviously guys making big plays and big shots down the stretch allowed us to come out with a win,” Otzelberger said.

Especially Heise, who scored eight points in the Feb. 7 win over Baylor after her sister scored her first Olympic goal for Team USA in pool play over Finland. So the Heises all went to bed happy on their respective Monday nights seven hours and an ocean apart.

And Nate’s late-season surge may be just getting started.

“Im just gonna keep saying it, he’s gonna play great the rest of the way,” Otzelberger said. “Just trust me on that. I started saying it a few weeks ago. I just know him and I know what he’s capable of, and I know what’s in front of him. He’s a winner. He’s a competitor.”

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