Hatchett Posts Career-High 20 Points in Loss to EWU

Box Score

POCATELLO, Idaho - Despite scoring 21 points above their season average, the Bengals dropped to a hot 3-point shooting Eastern Washington 87-73 Thursday night inside Holt Arena. Idaho State is now 4-15 in Big Sky Conference play, 5-24 overall.

The Bengals were led by junior guard Andre' Hatchett, who put in a career-best 20 points from 8-10 shooting. He added six rebounds and two assists on the night.

Senior guard Melvin Morgan was 5-for-9 from 3-point range, netting 19 points while delivering four assists. Sophomore guard Chris Hansen had 17 points, 14 coming in the second half. He also had a team-high four steals.  Morgan and Hansen combined for Idaho State's seven 3-pointers. As a team, the Bengals were 25-for-63 from the field.

Eastern Washington rushed to a 22-4 lead before ISU could create any consistent offense in the first half. The Eagles made 14 of their 26-attempted 3-pointers. Guards Tyler Harvey and Parker Kelly had 11 of them together. They were over 50 percent shooting from the field, going 29-for-54.

“Eastern Washington shoots a whole bunch of threes,” ISU Head Coach Bill Evans said. “I told our guys that they would shoot about 30 and I was hoping that they would only make seven. We called early timeouts because we were just trying to change the tempo. We wanted to get them stopped.”

Free throw shooting was a struggle for the Bengals, shooting 16-for-34 from the line. The Bengals only committed five turnovers in the game.

Senior forward Neveij Walters added seven points and had four rebounds. Junior guard Tomas Sanchez had four assists and two steals in the game. Junior center Ayibakuro Preh blocked four shots and had four rebounds and four points. Senior guard Sherrod Baldwin had the other two of ISU's five shot blocks.

The Bengals wrap up the regular season at home for senior night against Portland State (8-19, 5-14 BSC) on Saturday in Holt Arena. Seniors Melvin Morgan, Sherrod Baldwin, Jakub Kusmieruk, Neveij Walters and Dejan Kostur will be honored prior to the 7 p.m. tipoff.