Kansas City, Mo ? Clarence Gilbert hit 8-of-11 3-pointers and scored 26 points Thursday night, leading Missouri to a 79-59 victory over Iowa State in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.

Kareem Rush and Arthur Johnson added 17 points each for sixth-seeded Missouri (21-10), which meets third-seeded Texas in the quarterfinals on Friday night.

Tyray Pearson led 11th-seeded Iowa State (12-19) with 19 points. The Cyclones shot just 42 percent (22-for-53) from the field and committed 22 turnovers. Omar Bynum added 17 points for Iowa State.

Missouri’s victory kept the Tigers perfect in Kemper Arena this season. They won twice here in November in the Guardians Classic, beating Alabama in the semifinals and Iowa for the championship.

The Cyclones, Big 12 tournament champions and NCAA regional finalists in 2000, haven’t won in the postseason since then. They were upset by Baylor after drawing a first-round bye in last year’s conference tournament, then shocked by 15th-seeded Hampton in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Gilbert scored all 18 of his first-half points on 6-for-8 shooting from 3-point range. He went 3-for-3 from long range and Kareem Rush also hit a 3-pointer in a 14-0 run that gave Missouri a 31-15 lead with 6:35 left in the half.

After that, the Tigers’ lead never went below double digits. They led 44-28 at halftime and by as many as 26 points, 70-44, on Johnson’s 3-point play with 6:52 left in the game.

Iowa State led only once, when Bynum hit a 3-pointer and followed up with a dunk for a 9-6 lead with 17:28 left in the first half. Gilbert answered with two 3-pointers in the next 40 seconds for Missouri, putting the Tigers up 12-9.