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POCATELLO, Idaho - The Idaho State men's basketball team won its fourth-straight home game Thursday night, beating visiting Portland State 88-71 at ICCU Court in Holt Arena.
Idaho State improved to 7-4 in Big Sky Conference play and 12-11 overall. With the win ISU moved into sole possession of fourth place in the conference. Portland State fell to 4-7 and 8-14.
"We shot the ball really well tonight," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "We had good shot selection and we were very patient offensively."
Junior guard
Ethan Telfair led the way for Idaho State with a game high 35 points and five assists. Sophomore guard
Geno Luzcando scored 17 points and freshman guard
Gary Chivichyan added 13 points.
"My teammates made some great passes tonight," said Telfair. "I found ways to get open and they saw how hard I was working."
The Bengals used an 11-3 run to open up a 26-16 lead midway through the first half and built the lead to as many as 14.
Telfair scored 17 points in the first half and Chivichyan hit a three from the top of the key as time expired to give the Bengals a 45-31 lead at the break.
The Vikings came out of the locker room hot and cut the deficit to one at 56-55 with 12:07 left in the game on a three by freshman guard Armani Collins. The Bengals countered with 13-2 run to give themselves some breathing room.
"Good teams find a way to win," said senior guard
Ben Wilson. "The other team is always going to go on a run but good teams find a way to break through that funk."
The Bengals shot over 50 percent once again at 54.7 percent including 47.8 percent on 11-of-23 from three. Portland State shot 40 percent from the field and just 27 percent on 26 three point attempts.
Senior forward Cameron Forte had a double-double with 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Vikings. Junior guard Zach Gengler scored nine points and dished out five assists and Collins added nine points.
Freshman forward
Stephen Lennox played 12 minutes in the first half scoring four points and grabbing a season high eight rebounds for ISU.
"People are expecting us to win all of the sudden," said Evans. "With those expectations come challenges and we have to make sure we do all the things we need to do to recognize that."
Idaho State hosts Sacramento State on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. at ICCU Court in Holt Arena.
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