Mount St. Mary's Elijah Long prevailed in the individual battle Monday night with older brother Nazareth Mitrou-Long of Iowa State. But Mitrou-Long's team was the one celebrating a win, thanks to improved defense and a balanced scoring attack.

Putting four players in double figures and limiting the Mountaineers to 26 percent field goal shooting, the 20th-ranked Cyclones registered a 73-55 nonconference win at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.

Preseason All-America pick Monte Morris tallied 18 points for Iowa State (2-0), which also got 13 from Matt Thomas. Deonte Burton and reserve Nick Weiler-Babb each scored 10 points, with Burton adding 13 rebounds for a double-double.

"I thought we really guarded well the first 10 or 12 minutes," Cyclones coach Steve Prohm said. "We scored off our defense a little bit. We got through ball-screens. We attacked the top leg and got through the screens."

Prohm and his players were concerned with their defense after a 113-71 win Friday night against Savannah State, but made some improvements on that end of the floor against a better opponent. Mount St. Mary's canned only 5-of-24 field goals in the first half, two of them long 3-pointers to beat the shot clock.

"We were pretty locked in defensively," Thomas said. "We're at our best when we can play and push in transition, so we have to get stops. You can't do that when you're taking the ball out of the net."

For most of the night, the only Mountaineer who could force Iowa State to do that was Long, playing against his brother for the first time in his career. With about 20 family and friends from their hometown of Mississauga, Ontario, looking on, Elijah Long led all scorers with 19 points while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists.

Meanwhile, Mitrou-Long couldn't find a rhythm, hitting just 2-of-10 shots and settling for eight points with six rebounds in 28 minutes.

"There was a lot of emotion in the game early with Naz and Eli," Prohm said.

But there wasn't much suspense until about midway through the second half, when Mount St. Mary's (0-2) made its one good run. Freshman guard Miles Wilson's three-point play with 13:28 remaining capped a 15-6 spurt and pulled the Mountaineers within 49-39.

However, the Cyclones scored the next 12 points, not allowing Mount St. Mary's to score for a span of 6:23. By the time Elijah Long ended the drought with a layup, Iowa State's lead was 61-41 and the game was essentially over.

"Last game, we felt like we didn't (play) defense the way we usually do," Burton said. "We just had to stay disciplined, no matter who you're playing and what the emotions are."

Wilson finished with 11 points off the bench for the Mountaineers, who canned only 9-of-44 on 2-point attempts.

The Cyclones made just 44.8 percent of their field goal attempts, including 4-of-16 on 3-pointers, but a 50-38 rebounding advantage and their improved work on defense more than made up for an off-night offensively.

"We just didn't have a rhythm offensively," Prohm said. "There's a difference between freedom and bad shots and we crossed the line a little bit."

NOTES: Prior to Monday night's game, Iowa State suspended sophomore F Simeon Carter for three games for a violation of team rules. Carter scored six points in four minutes of Friday night's season opener against Savannah State. ... This is the second game of a season-opening nine-game road trip for Mount St. Mary's, which won't play a home game until Dec. 7. ... The Cyclones notched their 36th straight regular-season home win against a nonconference opponent.