Box Score
POCATELLO, Idaho- Idaho State men's basketball defeated Northern Colorado 86-63 on Saturday evening at Holt Arena to earn its first Big Sky Conference win. The 86 points was a season-high for the Bengals and
Melvin Morgan scored a career-high 27 points in the victory.
Idaho State improves to 2-11 and 1-3 in conference play. Northern Colorado falls to 3-9 and 1-3 in conference play.
The Bengals shot 46 percent from the field, while the Bears shot 49 percent. ISU shot 53 percent from the 3-point line, making 15-for-28, the most since Dec. 1, 2004. Idaho State out rebounded the Bears 36-26.
“We made shots,” Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. “That is how simple it is. We got 36 rebounds, that is another thing that is good.”
Four Idaho State players were in double digits for the night. Along with Morgan's 27 points,
Chris Hansen scored 19,
Sherrod Baldwin 11 and
Tomas Sanchez had a 11 points and a career-high eight assists.
Andre Hatchett led ISU on the boards with six while Sanchez had five.
The Bengals took the lead 43 seconds into the game and never looked back. With the score tied at 19 with 8:18 to play in the first half, Idaho State went on a 15-0 run to take a 34-19 lead with 3:45 left in the period thanks to a Hansen 3-pointer. ISU closed out the first half on top 37-25.
Idaho State started the second half going six-for-six from the three point line to extend the lead to 57-36 after a Baldwin 3-pointer six minutes into the final period. The largest Bengals lead was 24 points at 84-60 following two Morgan free throws with 39 seconds to go in the game.
“This is the first time we have been over 55 points against a Division I team this year,” Evans said. “We scored 86 points, that is 40 points over our average. It is about making baskets. If we make 15 3's against Southern Utah I think we are going to win.”
Next, the Bengals travel to Cedar City to take on the Southern Utah Thunderbirds January 12. Tip-off is at 7:05 p.m. The game can be heard on 102.5 KMGI and 930 KSEI.
“We did practice well yesterday and there is a correlation in how you practice and how you play,” Evans said. “I think we played really hard tonight and I was proud of them.”
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