ISU Rally Falls Short in Final Seconds vs. First Place Sacramento State

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POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team showed its toughness against first-place Sacramento State on Thursday night in Reed Gym. The Bengals rallied to take a 59-58 lead with 33 seconds left in the game but the Hornets hit four free throws in the final 13 seconds to beat the Bengals 62-59.

Sacramento State improved to 12-6 and 6-1 in league while ISU dropped to 4-15 and 1-6.

"It is frustrating," Idaho State senior Nnamdi Ezenwa said. "We fought so hard the whole game. We were executing when we needed to execute and got stops when we needed to get stops. It came down to the last couple of plays and the ball bounced their way."

Jeffrey Solarin led three Bengals in double figures with 16 points and eight rebounds. Ezenwa had 14 points and five rebounds while Ben Wilson had 10 points and five assists.

Idaho State shot 48.9 percent from the floor and the Hornets shot 44.9 percent. The Bengals were out rebounded 31-27. Sac State hit 15-for-19 from the free throw line while the Bengals connected on 11-of-20.

Sacramento State was led by Mikh McKinney's 24 points.
"McKinney is a proven player in this conference," Ezenwa said. "He is super quick and he knows how to draw fouls. He made some big senior plays."

The game was tied several times in the first half but the Bengals didn't take its first lead of the game until Ezenwa hit a 3-pointer with 4:03 left in the half. That put ISU on top 24-22. Sacramento State led 30-26 at halftime and built a 43-31 lead with 13:57 left in the game.

Over the next 10 minutes ISU continued to chip away at the Hornet lead. ISU took its second lead of the game at 54-53 thanks to a layup by Solarin with 3:01 left in the game.

The Hornets then took a 58-54 lead with 1:45 to play. Wilson then brought ISU within two on a layup 30 seconds later and Chris Hansen hit a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in the game to put ISU on top 59-58.

With 13 seconds left in the game the Bengals were whistled for a foul and Zach Mills hit both of his free throws to give Sac State a 60-59 lead. On the ensuing possession Idaho State was forced into a turnover, allowing the Hornets to seal the win with two free throws from Trevis Jackson.

"We played pretty well," Solarin said. "Once again it comes down to one or two plays and we didn't make those plays. The good thing about basketball is that we can learn from it and take it in to our next game."

Idaho State is back in action on Saturday at 7 p.m. vs. Portland State. The game is in Reed Gym.

"We fought the whole game and we will continue to fight the rest of the season no matter what," Ezenwa said. "It is not over until it's over."