Dec. 27, 2007
Final Stats
Salt Lake City, UT --- In a game that was way closer than the final score would ever indicate, Idaho State missed a chance to take the lead in midway through the second half, and Utah went on an immediate crushing 11-0 run to take command, and then used a four-point play to ice things as Utah escaped with a 68-51 win over the Bengals, keeping ISU winless against Utah in Salt Lake City.
The game was a tight affair for most of the game, and ISU was down just one point at 38-37 at the 11:20 mark of the second half, but ISU came up blank on two possessions to take the lead. First Demetrius Monroe missed a short jumper, and then after a Donnie Carson rebound, Logan Kinghorn missed a three-pointer. Then, Utah went off on their run. Johnnie Bryant started it with a three to make it 41-37. That three was the first since opening the game with six threes on their first eight attempts, all of which came in the opening eight minutes.
Luka Drka then scored after a turnover, and then Lawrence Bortha and Shaun Green drained back-to-back threes to make it 49-37. The Bengals weren't dead yet however, as ISU scored four straight, and then traded baskets with Utah until the 5:18 mark, when Matt Stucki's layup made it 52-44, but Bryant hit Utah's 10th and final three, and he was fouled by Lucas Steijn, and the ensuing four-point play made it 56-44, and that was the final nail.
"This is a team with a lot of inexperience, and they gained a lot of experience this November and December with a really tough schedule," said head coach Joe O'Brien, who will see his team take on Northwest Nazarene on Saturday night. "We've taken some hard knocks, but you know, the 20 people in this program, we know what we are about. I thought we made progress tonight."
Added O'Brien, "For 32 minutes, we were in the thick of this game, but we struggle to score sometimes, and that's no secret. I'm pretty pleased, even though we lost by 17, that we are a better team tonight than we were on Sunday."
The Bengals opened the game well, bolting to a 9-3 lead, but Utah's first six baskets were all threes, and they led by as many as eight in the first half. The Bengals however never faltered until the end, as Amorrow Morgan kept ISU in it with a career-night with 17 points, including a 2-for-2 night from beyond the arc. Morgan also added seven rebounds and five assists. Matt Stucki, who had led ISU in scoring in each of the previous four games, was the only other Bengal in double-figures with 10 points.
"We have eliminated a lot of mistakes from our game. The difference again was the 3-pt line. We are consistently allowing teams to make 10 threes a game, and tonight they made 10. We average four a game and tonight we made four."
For Utah, Bryant led the squad with 17 points, including four threes. Seven-foot-one center Luke Nevill scored 14 and had six rebounds, and Shaun Green added 12 points. Utah outrebounded ISU 33-23, and their bench outscored ISU 28-4.
NOTES: Idaho State is now 0-11 against Utah in Salt Lake City ... ISU has not suffered a foul out this year, although Logan Kinghorn, Lucas Steijn, and Austin Kilpatrick all finished with four fouls ... Amorrow Morgan got caught in transit flying back from Tennessee from the Holiday break due to the weather and caught up with the team in Salt Lake, missing practice on Wednesday.
