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POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team lost 80-63 to Montana State on Saturday afternoon at Worthington Arena in Bozeman, Montana.
The Bengals shot 37 percent from the field and Montana State shot 50 percent. ISU hit 26 free throws on 33 attempts and was out rebounded 34-29. Montana State was 11-22 from the three-point line and held ISU to 3-18 from behind the arc. The Bengals turned the ball over 15 times while MSU had 14 turnovers.
Ethan Telfair had 16 points and
Geno Luzcando had 10 points and four rebounds.
Novak Topalovic tied his career-high with 15 and five rebounds. He set career-marks from the free throw line making seven on 11 attempts.Â
Brandon Boyd had 11 points.
"We are not shooting the ball from the arc well," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "Novak played really good and I thought Lennox was terrific. To go 2-3 from the floor with seven rebounds and six points in 11 minutes is pretty dang good."
Other than a brief 1-0 and 6-5 lead, ISU trailed for the entire contest. The Bengals kept it close early in the game, trailing 11-10 after two Luzcando free throws with 13:18 left in the half. ISU then trailed 17-14 three minutes later after a layup by Lennox.
With Montana State leading 25-19, Idaho State was outscored 9-2 to give MSU a 34-21 lead with 3:59 left until halftime. The Bengals trailed 40-27 at the break and got no closer than 16 points in the second half.
Idaho State returns home to host Weber State on Saturday, January 7 at 7 p.m. at ICCU Court in Holt Arena.
Notes: The Bengals played without
Hayes Garrity and
Gary Chivichyan was unavailable once again.
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