POCATELLO, Idaho- Chris Hansen scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Idaho State men's basketball team to a 86-66 win over Montana Western on Tuesday evening at ICCU Court in Holt Arena. The Bengals are 1-4 on the season.
Hansen scored his 21 points in 23 minutes while making six shots on 13 attempts. He had five of the team's 12 steals.
"I am trying to look to be aggressive and my teammates did a good job of find me in the right spot," Hansen said. "In the second half we slowed them down. We came out more aggressive and smarter. We played fast but we played smart in the beginning."
ISU shot 46.6 from the field while Montana Western was held to 35.1 percent. The Bengals had a season-high 19 assists while forcing 18 turnovers.
Evann Hall scored 17 points off the bench while
Jeffrey Solarin had 12 points and five rebounds.
Nnamdi Ezenwa had a game-high seven rebounds and nine points.
The Bengals out rebounded Montana Western 37-35 and shot 50 percent in the first half. The Bengal defense held the Bulldogs to 27.6 percent shooting in the second half.
"We did a good job executing offensively at times," Idaho State guard
Ben Wilson said. "Our defense was better in the second half but we still have a lot to improve on."
The Bengals took a 9-8 lead three minutes into the game on an Ezenwa layup and never trailed after that.
The Bengals led 52-38 at halftime and led by as many as 29 points at 76-47 with 10 minutes left in the game.
"We have a lot of work to do and we can get a lot better," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "Defensively in the first half I don't think we were very good but offensively we were pretty good. In the second half defensively we were pretty good but offensively we weren't very good."
Idaho State returns to the court to host Pacific on Saturday, December 6 at 7 p.m. at ICCU Court in Holt Arena. Pacific plays in the West Conference.
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