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POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team earned its first road win of the season by beating Grand Canyon 67-51 on Tuesday night at Grand Canyon University Arena in Phoenix, Ariz. The Bengals are now 2-5 while Grand Canyon dropped to 4-5.
Chris Hansen led three Bengals in double figures with 22 points on six-of-12 shooting from the field. He was four-of-seven from the 3-point line while making all six of his free throw attempts. He added three rebounds and a career-high five assists.
Jeffrey Solarin had 12 points and nine rebounds while
Marcus Bradley scored 11 points off the bench.
The Bengals shot 53 percent from the field for the game and held Grand Canyon to 33 percent. ISU shot 62 percent in the second half while the Lopes made only six field goals on 25 attempts (24 percent).
"Our defense was really good tonight," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "We really defended in what was a physical game. Our guys hung in there physically and mentally. When you work really hard like we have been good things will happen. We are getting better and will continue to get better."
ISU was seven-of-14 from the 3-point line and eight-for-11 from the free throw line. The Bengals out rebounded Grand Canyon 36-21.
ISU had 22 points off the bench, led by Bradley's 11 and
Geno Luzcando's eight points in 13 minutes.
"I thought Geno really played well tonight," Evans said. "He is a very confident young man."
The Bengals had 34 points in the paint and scored 19 points off 14 Grand Canyon turnovers.
Idaho State trailed 18-11 early before going on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 20 after a Luzcando 3-pointer with 4:12 left in the first half. Grand Canyon later led 25-22 before Hansen scored four straight points to give the Bengals the lead for good at 26-25 with 1:49 left until the break.
ISU went into halftime leading 30-28. The Bengals opened the second half by scoring the first six points, four from Solarin and two from
Nnamdi Ezenwa to take a 36-28 lead in the first two minutes.
"Anytime you can get a quick start it is a good thing," Evans said.
After GCU cut the ISU lead to 36-35 with 14:27 left in the game, ISU went on a 22-7 run to take a 58-42 lead following a Hansen 3-pointer with 6:21 to play.
The Bengals led by as many as 21 late in the game at 64-43.
Idaho State returns home to host Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, December 13 at ICCU Court in Holt Arena. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. For tickets call 208-282-FANS or log onto isubengals.com.
Notes: The Bengals are 2-0 this season when leading at halftime. This is the first time ISU has shot 50 percent from the field. This is the second-straight year the Bengals have won a guarantee game. Last year ISU won at San Francisco. During the Joe O'Brien era ISU never won a guarantee game. In the Bengals two wins they have had three guys score in double figures. The Bengals are 2-1 this year when out rebounding an opponent.
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