Bengals Drop Road Game at Northern Colorado

Box Score
POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team lost 78-63 to Northern Colorado at Butler Hancock Pavilion in Greeley, Colo. Northern Colorado made 15-for-21 3-pointers and was 10-for-12 from behind the arc in the second half to spur the Bears onto the win. Idaho State drops to 3-8 in Big Sky Conference play and 4-16 overall while Northern Colorado improved to 4-7 in league and 6-13.

“Northern Colorado played really good and you need to give them credit,” Idaho State coach Bill Evans said. “We need to play better. We need to try and find out why we were so poor tonight and hopefully it won't happen again.”

Melvin Morgan led Idaho State in scoring with 18 points and Neveij Walters had 10 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals off the bench in 22 minutes of play.

“Neveij was a bright spot for us,” Evans said. “I think he did a good job.”

Idaho State shot 44.2 percent from the field, including 52 percent in the second half while Northern Colorado shot 56.3 percent and 70.8 percent in the second half. ISU made eight 3-pointers on 21 attempts. Both teams had 27 rebounds and ISU had 11 turnovers and forced 12.

Idaho State hung with the Bears for the first 20 minutes taking a brief 9-7 lead after a 3-pointer by Morgan with 13:31 to play in the half. Northern Colorado later extended its lead to 28-21 with 4:16 to play in the period when ISU closed out the half on a 7-1 run and trailed 29-28 at the break after a last-second 3-pointer by Nick Mason.

Northern Colorado scored the first seven points of the second half to lead 36-28 less than two minutes into the final period. Five straight points by Morgan cut the Bear lead to 36-33 a little over a minute later. Northern Colorado then proceeded to make nine 3-pointers over the final 17 minutes of the game to extend its lead to as many as 23 points at 78-55 with 2:59 to play in the game.

Idaho State returns to the court on Saturday, Feb. 2 at North Dakota. Tipoff is at 1 p.m. (MST) and the game can be heard live on 102.5 KMGI and 930 KSEI.