Bengals Take Down SUU 89-71

 
POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team has guaranteed itself the program's first .500 record or better in Big Sky Conference play since the 2008-09 season after beating Southern Utah 89-71 on Saturday night in Cedar City, Utah. The Bengals are now 9-5 in conference play and 14-12 overall and the 2008-09 team finished 9-7 in league play.

Ethan Telfair led the Bengal offensive attack with 31 points, six rebounds and six assists. Gary Chivichyan had 17 points, was 6-7 from the field and 4-5 from the three-point line. Geno Luzcando was 6-8 from the field and scored 15 points.

Idaho State shot 56.4 percent from the field and was 8-13 from the three-point line. The Bengals out rebounded SUU 41-31 and Ben Wilson led the way with 12.

"It always feels good to win," Idaho State coach Bill Evans said. "We were pretty good defensively and we made shots tonight."

Idaho State led for a majority of the game. ISU built a 9-2 lead four minutes into the game before the T-Birds rallied to cut their deficit to 15-12. SUU would take a 24-23 lead with 7:13 to play in the first 20 minutes of play.

ISU then finished the first half on an 18-5 run to take a 41-29 lead at the break. The run continued into the second period as ISU scored the first nine points to lead 50-29 with 18:42 remaining after a Ben Wilson jumper.

ISU led by as many as 22 points at 57-35 following a Telfair 3-pointer with 16:03 left in the game. SUU cut the ISU lead to 11 at 73-62 with 6:38 remaining but ISU extended its lead back to 22 points in the final minutes of the contest.

Idaho State plays its final two home games of the 2015-16 season next week in Reed Gym. ISU hosts Montana on Thursday, Feb. 25 and Montana State on Saturday, Feb. 27. Both games begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27 is Senior Night. It will be the final home game for Ben Wilson and Evann Hall. They wil be honored before the start of the game.

Fans attending the games are encouraged to purchase tickets a head of time to avoid long lines on game day.

Notes
- ISU is 14-12 overall and it ties for the fifth best start in program history since the 1976-77 season. THe 1996-97, 1987-88, 1985-86, 1981-82 and the 1978-79 teams were also 14-12 through 26 games.
- Ethan Telfair had his fourth 30 point of the season.
- The 9-5 conference record is the best mark in league since the 1993-94 team was 10-4.