Melvin Ejim scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half and Iowa State held on to defeat host Oklahoma 77-70 on Saturday.

The Cyclones snapped a seven-game losing streak in Norman and moved to 7-3 in Big 12 play, their best conference start since the 2000-2001 team began 8-2.

Oklahoma, which at 3-7 is off to its worst conference start since the advent of the Big 12 in 1996, trailed by only three points with three minutes to play after a bucket by Andrew Fitzgerald (game-high 27 points).

Ejim, though, was 4 of 4 from the free throw line and Scott Christopherson added two of his 15 points on a pair of free throws to help the Cyclones hold on.

Steven Pledger, Oklahoma’s leading scorer who was held to three points through the game’s first 29 minutes, knocked down three consecutive 3-pointers to help get the game tied at 56 with 7:50 to play. Iowa State went on a 10-3 run over the next three minutes, five coming from Ejim, to take a 66-59 lead.

The Cyclones made eight of their first 11 3-pointers en route to a 32-24 lead, but as the long-range shots stopped falling (Iowa State missed 11 of its final 13), the Sooners climbed back into it.

Behind a combined 26 first-half points from Fitzgerald and Romero Osby, Oklahoma led for the last time 36-35 with 1:24 to go until intermission.