LAS VEGAS -- Iowa State star point guard Tamin Lipsey suffered an injury late in Monday's 83-82 win over St. John's, and his status for the rest of the Players Era Festival is undetermined.
Following a 3-pointer by St. John's Oziyah Sellers with 2:09 left, Lipsey lay on the floor for several minutes, with coach T.J. Otzelberger kneeling next to him. Lipsey eventually walked gingerly to the locker room with his jersey covering his face.
"We're still evaluating," Otzelberger said after the game. "The training staff, medical staff, just told us it's going to be a day-to-day, lower-body extremity, so I don't have great detail on it. We haven't had time to really, truly evaluate him over time. So we'll get back to the hotel, check him out and see what that means."
Lipsey, a two-time All-Big 12 selection and two-time Big 12 All-Defensive team pick, was hampered by a groin injury down the stretch of last season and missed most of the preseason because of a knee injury. He has started 108 games in his four-year career in Ames, and is averaging 18.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 3.2 steals this season.
"That's our guy. He runs the team. It's obviously disappointing to see him go down. But we have a next-player-step-up mentality. We knew we needed to win that game," junior forward Milan Momcilovic said. "But obviously it's tough to see our leader go down like that."
Even without Lipsey for the final minutes, No. 15 Iowa State was able to pull out a win over No. 14 St. John's. The Cyclones jumped out to an early 10-point lead before St. John's turned up the defensive pressure and had a 45-43 edge heading into halftime. For a game between two elite defensive teams that thrive off forcing turnovers -- Iowa State leads the nation in defensive turnover percentage -- the first half featured a surprising amount of pace and flow offensively.
The second half was much more a war of attrition, with Dylan Darling fouling out and four other players committing four fouls. Neither team led by more than seven points in the second half, and the game saw nine lead changes.
Iowa State took a five-point lead with 3:07 remaining, but Sellers (20 points) hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give St. John's a one-point advantage. Momcilovic responded with a driving finish to regain the lead, and the Red Storm struggled to generate clean looks on their final few possessions.
The game didn't come down to the turnover battle, but Iowa State's edge on the backboards. The Cyclones grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, turning them into 22 second-chance points; in the second half, it was 10 offensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points.
"With the game on the line, we just didn't come up with the rebounds necessary to put the other team away," St. John's coach Rick Pitino said. "But that's a credit to their incredible crashing of the offensive glass. We take the loss because we couldn't come up with the rebounds. It's unfortunate we lost another good game."
Momcilovic had one of the best games of his career, finishing with 23 points and five 3-pointers, while Joshua Jefferson consistently caused issues for St. John's defense, going for 17 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. The Red Storm countered by consistently attacking with their frontcourt trio of Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell, who combined for 44 points, 25 rebounds and 9 assists.
Iowa State (5-0) faces Creighton on Tuesday, while St. John's (3-2) plays Baylor.