POCATELLO, Idaho- As a walk on
Erik Nakken has come to practice every day and worked hard. His love for the game is evident to his coaches and teammates. The hard work paid off on Saturday night as the redshirt freshman from Cedar City, Utah, scored eight points in seven minutes and sealed the 80-76 win over Portland State by hitting two free throws with two seconds left in the game.
"It is great," Nakken said. "It is what you work for. You put a lot of time in for moments like this. All the hours are worth it for those few seconds I was in at the end. It felt great."
Idaho State (5-15, 2-6) shot 46.8 percent from the field and Portland State (10-8, 4-4) finished the game shooting 49.1 percent.
ISU had three players score in double figures led by
Chris Hansen and
Nnamdi Ezenwa's 17 points.
Jeffrey Solarin scored all 15 of his points in the first half. Ezenwa added eight rebounds and
Ben Wilson had a season-high eight rebounds.
Geno Luzcando played 23 minutes off the bench and had six assists to only one turnover.
Nakken scored six of his eight points in the first half when he went two-for-three from the three-point line.
His 3-pointers came on back-to-back baskets for ISU. He hit his first one with 11:55 left in the first period to cut the PSU lead to 18-17 and then with 11:12 remaining in the half his second three tied the game at 20.
"My dad always talks about being mentally prepared and tough," Nakken said. "I am trying to be ready at any time for when the opportunities come. I have nothing to lose."
The success Nakken had off the bench also brought great excitement to his teammates.
"Everyone rallies around Erik because we know how much work he puts in and how much he loves the game," Hansen said. "When he hit those three's we got excited and pumped."
It wasn't long after Nakken's second 3-pointer when the Bengals took their first lead of the game on a Solarin basket with 8:41 left until halftime.
After the Vikings took a 37-34 lead with 3:38 left till the break, ISU closed out the half on an 11-4 run to lead 45-41. The Bengals then scored the first six points of the second-half to take 51-41 lead with 18:26 left in the game.
Portland State rallied to take a 68-62 lead with 8:47 left but the Bengals countered with a 9-2 run to take a 71-70 lead after a Hansen basket with 5:51 to play. Idaho State led by as many as six points at 76-70 in the final five minutes and never trailed the remainder of the game.
"I am happy for my guys," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "They practiced and played hard and deserved this win."
Idaho State plays at Northern Colorado on January 29 at 7 p.m. and then travels to North Dakota for a 1 p.m. (MDT) tip.
Game Notes: - 45 first half points was the most scored against a Division I team since
Bill Evans has been head coach at ISU.
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Chris Hansen is now in 15th place on the all-time scoring list with 1155 points. He needs 29 points to pass Dave Wagnon (1964-66) and move into 14th place.
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Chris Hansen has now hit 200 3-pointers in his career at ISU. He needs 12 to pass David Schroeder as the all-time leader for 3-pointers made.
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Ben Wilson had a season and career-high eight rebounds.
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Geno Luzcando had a team-high and a season-best six assists to only one turnover.
- Idaho State is now 2-0 when scoring 80 points or more in a game.
- This was the first time ISU has won this season when allowing a team to score 70 points or more.
We Are Your Bengals
