After starting the game on Hawaiian time, Iowa State eventually played to its normal frenetic style in an 83-74 victory over South Florida last night.

A crowd of 1,379 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Cyclones advance to tonight's semifinals of the 42nd annual Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic.

Iowa State, which improved to 7-3, will face Northwestern State in today's first semifinal game at 5 p.m. South Florida, which dropped to 5-4, will play Oregon State in a consolation game at 1:30 p.m.

Iowa State fell behind early, but then relied on a cyclone-like defense to rally from a 10-point deficit.

"We never get rattled when teams go up on us," Iowa State guard Will Blalock said. "We know we can turn it around at any minute. It's normal for us to play a game like this because our defensive scheme calls for going up and down, making the other team turn the ball over."

Blalock finished with 16 points and 10 assists. Rahshon Clark led the Cyclones with 19 points. Curtis Stinson added 13 and John Neal 11.

The Cyclones forced South Florida into 25 turnovers, which led directly to 40 points.

"We press, that's not something we put in for this game," Iowa State head coach Wayne Morgan said.

South Florida raced to a 33-23 lead in the first half, but the Cyclones went on a stunning 18-2 run in the final 4:23 of the half to take a 41-37 lead at intermission.

"We've been in Hawai'i for a couple of days, so getting into the flow of the game was kind of tough," Blalock said. "Coach was screaming at people a few times and then we got to moving."

South Florida reclaimed the lead at 57-55 on a 3-pointer by James Holmes with 9:36 to play, but it would be short-lived.

Iowa State responded with a 10-0 run to take the lead for good at 65-57 with 7:44 remaining.

South Florida got as close as 74-70 with 2:30 remaining, but Clark hit a 3-pointer to seal it for Iowa State.

South Florida's McHugh Mattis had a record-shooting performance in the loss. He finished with a game-high 23 points on 10 of 10 shooting from the field. It set a Rainbow Classic and South Florida record for field-goal percentage. Holmes added 20 points and Melvin Buckley 19 for the Bulls.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.