Late Rally Comes Up Short Against First-place Eastern Washington

POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State men's basketball team made a late rally before falling to first-place Eastern Washington 85-81 on Thursday evening at ICCU Court in Holt Arena. The Bengals trailed by as many 19 points early in the second half before making a late run to cut the Eagle lead to 80-79 with 49 seconds left after a 3-pointer by Chris Hansen.

The rally was short lived as Eastern Washington's Felix Van Hofe nailed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to seal the victory. ISU got within two points at 83-81 with 10 seconds remaining but Eastern's Drew Brandon hit two free throws with eight seconds left in the game.

 "We dug ourselves into a hole in the first half," Nnamdi Ezenwa said. "That set us back a little bit, but our team is not going to back down. We are not going to just lie down and die. We are going to fight until the final horn blows. We work too hard to roll over and die. We work too hard for ourselves and our coaches to just give up."

Jeffrey Solarin led the Bengals with his 10th double-double of the season with 23 points and 12 points. The 23 points tied his career-high.  

"My teammates kept giving me the ball in positions where I could score," Solarin said. "I felt like I was playing with a lot of confidence but I owe it all to my team for getting me the ball in the proper situations so I could be successful."

Nnamdi Ezenwa had 16 points and was three-for-three in 3-pointers with three assists. Chris Hansen had 18 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Idaho State had 22 points off of turnovers compared to 10 for the visiting Eagles.

Tyler Harvey, the NCAA leader in scoring, paced the Eagles with a game high 24 points.

In the first half ISU led 11-10 six minutes into the game. Then with EWU leading 25-24 with eight minutes left in the half, the Eagles closed out the period on a 16-2 run to lead 41-26 at the break.

The Bengals take on University of Idaho on Saturday, March 7 at 7:05 p.m. on the ICCU Court in Holt Arena. It's the final home game and senior day for Hansen, Solarin, Ezenwa and Ajak Magot.