POCATELLO, Idaho- Kyle Ingram made only two baskets all night but his second was the most important as a tip in with six seconds left lifted Idaho State to a 66-65 victory over the University of Portland on Tuesday night at the Chiles Center in Portland, Ore. Idaho State improved to 3-4 while Portland dropped to 4-6.
The game was close the entire evening as the Bengals biggest lead of the game was three and the Pilots biggest lead was seven points.
Idaho State trailed 57-52 with 5:32 left in the game when
Gary Chivichyan nailed four straight 3-pointers to give the Bengals a 64-61 lead with 2:52 remaining. Portland countered by taking a 65-64 lead on two free throws with 23 seconds left. On the ensuing Bengal possession, Ingram put in the winning basket on an
Ethan Telfair miss.
"Our guys kept hanging in there," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "They took good shots and kept believing in themselves and in what we were doing. Our guys played really hard tonight and I am really happy for them. We are a work in progress but we are continuing to get better."
Telfair led the Bengals in scoring with 21 points, scoring 19 in the second half. He added four assists and four steals in 38 minutes of play. Telfair was 0-7 from the field in the first 20 minutes of play but despite the offensive struggles, Evans never lost faith in his starting point guard.
"I told him if you believe in yourself like I believe in you that you will be just fine," Evans said.
Chivichyan had 18 points off the bench, 15 coming in the final 20 minutes. He was 6-11 from the three-point line.
"He is a terrific shooter," Evans said. "Gary can shoot the ball as well as anyone in the country and I believe that. He has no fear and he is not afraid to shoot shots."
The Bengals shot 37.7 percent from the field (23-61) and made 11-28 3-pointers. ISU was 9-11 from the foul line. The Bengals were out rebounded 42-36. Ingram led the Bengals with a team-high 8 rebounds.
Idaho State had 14 assists, led by
Ben Wilson's six. The Bengal defense forced Portland into 14 turnovers and had nine steals.
ISU held the Pilot defense to 14 points below their season average of 79.
"I thought we did a really good job defensively all night," Evans said.
Idaho State trailed 25-23 at halftime and only shot 27.6 percent from the field.
Idaho State returns home to host Utah Valley University of the Western Athletic Conference on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at ICCU Court in Holt Arena.
Notes:
- ISU now leads the series with Portland 11-10.
- ISU is 3-0 this season when hitting 11 3-pointers or more.
- This is only the fifth road Division I win since the 2007-08 season. Three of the five wins have come under Evans as the Bengals won at San Francisco 93-90 in overtime two years ago. Last season ISU won at Grand Canyon.
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