POCATELLO, Idaho- One thing is certain when Northern Arizona and Idaho State meet on the basketball court; the outcome will come down to the final minute of the contest. Saturday afternoon at the Walkup Skydome was no different as NAU outscored Idaho State 8-4 in the final minute to earn the 72-69 win. Coming into today's game, the last nine meetings had been decided by an average of five points.
"We are making improvements," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "This was a good college basketball game. We were better defensively tonight. All in all it was a better game."
The Bengals shot 53 percent from the field and
Chris Hansen led the team in scoring with 23 points.
Jeffrey Solarin had his sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
ISU was forced into 17 turnovers that resulted in 28 points while NAU only turned the ball over seven times. The Bengals were out rebounded 35-33 with NAU grabbing 15 offensive rebounds.
"Fifteen offensive rebounds, that was big," Evans said. "We need to be tougher and get to the basketball."
Northern Arizona shot 39.7 percent from the field and made 17 free throws on 23 attempts while the Bengals were 13-for-20 from the line.
Neither team held a double digit lead in the game. Northern Arizona led 20-15 midway through the first half when ISU went on an 8-1 run to take a 23-21 lead with 5:37 left until the break following two Hansen free throws.
The Lumberjacks led 30-29 when ISU closed out the half on an 8-0 run to lead 37-30 at halftime.
In the second half, the Bengals maintained the lead and led 57-50 with 9:51 left in the game after a layup by Solarin. In the final 9:51 the Bengals were outscored 22-12.
Idaho State's last lead was 65-64 with 2:30 to play after a basket by
Marcus Bradley. ISU was held scoreless for the next two minutes, allowing the Lumberjacks to a 69-65 lead with 31 seconds to play.
Idaho State is back in action January 22 and 24 in Reed Gym. ISU hosts Sacramento State on January 22 and Portland State on January 24. Both games begin at 7 p.m.
We Are Your Bengals
