LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- No. 21 Iowa State kept firing away until some of its shots finally began to drop.Monte Morris scored 20 points and Matt Thomas shrugged off a cold shooting performance to make a 3-pointer that put his team ahead for good, and the Cyclones held off Indiana State 73-71 in the opening game of the AdvoCare Invitational at Disney World on Thursday.We know we can make shots. Just have to adapt to the atmosphere, Morris said after Iowa State (4-0) remained unbeaten despite shooting 34.2 percent from the field and barely making half its free throws.Nobody on the sideline was out of the game. Everyone was engaged, Morris added. I think we all stayed together. We always had confidence.Thomas was just 2 of 10 from the field. He put the Cyclones ahead with his second 3-pointer with 54 seconds remaining. Nazareth Mitrou-Long made one of two free throws with 7.6 seconds left, and Indiana States hopes for an upset ended when Brenton Scotts 3-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer.Obviously very disappointed. ... We had a chance to be beat an awful good team, Indiana State coach Greg Lansing said.We were right there. Coach drew up a play for us to execute the last second. Unfortunately my shot didnt go in, Scott said. Its a salty loss. Its a salty taste. ... Its going to hurt me for a while.Iowa State (4-0) advanced to the tournament semifinals, despite going 5 for 15 from the foul line over the final 10 minutes. The Cyclones trailed for most of the first half before using an 11-0 run to wipe out a nine-point deficit.Morris, who also had nine rebounds, was joined in double figures by Mitrou-Long and Darrell Bowie with 13 apiece. Deonte Burton and Thomas, who missed eight of 10 shots from the field, each finished with 10.Scott led Indiana State (2-2) with 20 points on 7 of 18 shooting, a pair of long 3-pointers that gave the Sycamores leads in the closing minutes. Laquarious Paige came off the bench to score a career-high 20, and reserve TJ Bell had 10 points and 11 rebounds.BIG PICTUREThis tournament provides the first real test of the young season for Iowa State, which won its first three games over Savannah State, Mount St. Marys and The Citadel by an average of 42 points. The Cyclones start five seniors, but Indiana State is an experienced team, too. The Sycamores hung tough, making a final push after falling behind 54-48, but didnt have to enough to put the game away when they climbed back on top.POLL IMPLICATIONSThe AdvoCare field features two teams ranked in the Top 25, Iowa State and No. 11 Gonzaga. Three others teams the Cyclones could wind up facing at Disney World -- Florida, Seton Hall and Miami -- are perched just outside the Top 25 in this weeks Associated Press poll .SHAKY FROM THE LINEIowa State might have been able to put the Sycamores away earlier if not for poor free-throw shooting. The Cyclones went 15 for 29 from the foul line, including just 5 of 15 over the last 9:46.SCOTT LEADS THE WAYScott entered the tournament leading the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring at 22.3 points per game. The junior was 7 of 18 from the field, including 4 of 10 from behind the 3-point line. Paige is a sophomore whose previous career high was 8 points. He had been averaging just 4.7 before Thursday.UP NEXTThe Cyclones will meet Miami (4-0) in the semifinals of the eight-team tournament on Friday. Indiana State falls into the losers bracket, where the Sycamores will face Stanford (4-1).---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25Cheap Soccer Jerseys China . Goals from Jerome Boateng, Franck Ribery and Thomas Mueller extended Bayerns unbeaten run to a record 37 matches. "This record is incredible," Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. Fake Soccer Jerseys For Sale . Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. https://www.fakesoccerjerseys.com/ . The Masters champion and winner of last weeks Australian PGA has a three-round total of 14-under 199 at Royal Melbourne. "Im in a really good position for tomorrow," Scott said. Stitched Soccer Jerseys . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. Soccer Jerseys Black Friday . -- There were so many positives from the Orlando Magics first victory of the season that it was hard for coach Jacque Vaughn to stop praising his players. The year was 1991 and I was just another self-conscious teenager. Skinny. Pimples. Railroad tracks across my teeth. Although I was a blind boy attending a blind school, there were some partially sighted girls and word was that they were pretty.Ensconced in my bedroom at boarding school in Worcester, South Africa, I scanned through the radio stations, looking for something to occupy my mind. Suddenly my ears were assaulted by a cacophony of sounds. South Africa were playing an ODI in India after being readmitted to international cricket.I had heard the names of some of the South Africans - Kepler Wessels, Allan Donald, Jimmy Cook. But I didnt even know what a six was. Although my older brother Gary was a good cricketer back home in Zimbabwe, and I had heard people talking about the game, it didnt really mean anything to me. How could I picture it when I had never seen it?A week later, I was back home for the holidays. Gary and my parents picked me up from the airport. The whole way home from Harare to Kadoma, a two-hour journey, I asked them questions about the game. My dad and Gary were bewildered as to where this interest in cricket had come from, but they supplied the answers that became the building blocks of my passion. I started soaking up facts and names like a sponge, listening intently to debates about the differing merits of Donald and Eddo Brandes.By the end of the holidays I had a firm grasp on the game, and my excitement was peaking because I knew there would be commentary of Currie Cup matches on the radio when I got back to South Africa.The following year the World Cup came around, and Zimbabwe beat England, with Brandes bowling our old export Graeme Hick for a duck. I was totally hooked.When Zimbabwe were suddenly given Test status later that year, and lined up a Test against India, I figured there was only one way that I would be able to follow it. For weeks before the game, I saved my pocket money and converted it into coins. I knew the telephone number for the call box at the Red Lion, a pub at Harare Sports Club, and when the Test got underway, I started calling it to find out the score. Sometimes someone would answer, but they werent always that friendly.In the end I reverted to calling Radio One in Zimbabwe, where people were friendly but didnt necessarily know what was going on. Maybe you can make sense of this, they would say. It says two-seven-five divided by four. Eventually they knew when it was me calling, because they could hear the coins dropping into the pay phones coin box as the call went through. Yes, is that the guy calling from South Africa? they would ask.Soon cricket became an obsession. I managed to obtain Dave Houghtons home number and started calling him to talk about the game for as long as my allowance would hold out. One day as we were chatting, he heard the beep beep beep that warns you the call is about to be dropped because the money has run out. Quickly, he said, whats your number? He just managed to jot it down in time and then called me back.The following Sunday, Old Hararians played Alexandra Sports Club, and afterwards everyone was having a beer in the bar. Davie mentioned to my brother what a pleasure it had been talking to me. Gary went home and told my parents, and soon my dad was asking me why I was spending money that was meant for toothpaste and deodorant on phone calls to Houghton. I told him that Davie had called me back, but that just got me into more trouble.I also used to call Eddo, although he never called me back. And at one stage Grant Flower and Alistair Campbell were sharing a flat in town, and I got their number. They were pretty happy to talk, but Houghton is the only person Ive met whose appetite for discussing cricket exceeded my own. Many years lateer, after I had become a commentator, the two of us were driving from Harare to Bulawayo for a cricket match.ddddddddddddThe only break from cricket chatter on the five-hour journey was when we passed through Kadoma, and he said, Gee, Im a bit thirsty, and stopped for a drink.My commentary career came about almost by accident. I had finished school and was back in Zimbabwe in 1999, working on the switchboard for an irrigation company, when Sri Lanka came to visit. I met Ravi Shastri, who was there as a neutral commentator, and was allowed to sit in the commentary box so long as I promised not to make a sound. Eventually some of the commentators started chatting to me and asking for my opinions.Two years later India were back in Zimbabwe, and Shastri interviewed me during one of the tea breaks. Afterwards I was loitering around the press box when I heard a voice that I recognised from my school days in South Africa. It was Neil Manthorp, and I introduced myself. He was doing radio commentary for Cricinfo on the game and asked if I would join him. He ran it by his boss in London, who told him to keep it to 15 minutes. But as it went on, the editor emailed to tell Neil to keep me on for the rest of the slot, and then for the series. My television debut came in 2003 when Mike Haysman persuaded the director to get me on during the second one-day international against West Indies in Bulawayo. Zimbabwe won the game, with Heath Streak and Mark Vermeulen taking them to a six-wicket victory, and the celebrations were extra sweet that night.I was born with tumours behind both retinas, so my eyesight was destroyed before birth. The doctors told my parents that I had three to five months to live. I had my left eye removed when I was three months old, and my right eye came out in 2001, leaving me with two glass eyes.This came in handy during an encounter with Darrell Hair during Englands tour to Zimbabwe in 2004. We had briefly met in Harare, and in Bulawayo we got chatting some more. Zimbabwe had been on the receiving end of several bad decisions from him, so I said, Darrell, Ive got something Id like to give you to help you out. I took out my right eye and put it in his hand. He went very quiet, then apparently he glowered at me, and then started to smile. Eventually he put his head back and bellowed with laughter. Eventually I had to remind him to please give me my eye back.As remarkable as my story is, I know there are things that only a sighted commentator can do. For example, I cant analyse the field placements and make suggestions of how they could be changed. But I still feel I have a lot to offer.When Im wired into the stump microphone, I can generally make out who is bowling from listening to the way that they land and how they grunt, and from that point there are many giveaways as to what has happened. The length of time between the sound of the ball pitching and hitting the bat, the shuffle of the batsmans feet, and the type of noise that emanates from the bat striking the ball, all give me an idea of what shot has been played. Then the different calls of various batsmen, and the shouts of the fielders or the sound of the crowd, suggest whether the ball has pierced the field and how far it may have gone. So I can follow the game carefully, and along with the facts, figures, scorecards and conversations that Ive stored in my mind over the years, I can perform a role as an analyst.To date, the only places Ive travelled for cricket are South Africa and Bangladesh. Opportunities have been a bit short lately, and things in Zimbabwe are not easy. But one day I hope to get out there and see the world. ' ' '