Luzcando Nets 30 in 90-57 Win at Northern Colorado

 
POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team had its largest margin of victory on the road since 1959 on Saturday, winning 90-57 at Northern Colorado. The Bengals scorched the nets at a clip of 58.2 percent and hit 13 3-pointers on 20 attempts to earn the 33-point victory.

ISU is now 11-11 and 6-4 in Big Sky Conference play while Northern Colorado dropped to 8-15 and 5-6 in league.

For the second time in three games Geno Luzcando scored 30 points to lead the Bengal offensive attack. He was 12-20 from the field and made a career-best four 3-pointers on six attempts. He added five steals in 30 minutes of play.

"He is a really underrated athlete," Idaho State coach Bill Evans said. "He has great anticipatory skills and he was terrific tonight."

Kyle Ingram had 13 points and six rebounds while Gary Chivichyan had 12 points. Ethan Telfair finished with 11 points and seven assists.

"Ethan didn't shoot great but I thought he played great," Evans said. "It is hard to win without Ethan tonight."

The Bengals shot 56.7 percent in the first half and 60 percent in the final 20 minutes. Northern Colorado led 12-9 four minutes into the game but ISU then went on a 27-6 run to take a 36-18 lead with 4:38 left in the first half.

The Bengals went into halftime leading 45-24 and hit seven 3-pointers on nine attempts. Luzcando had 20 of his 30 points in the first half.

ISU led by as many as 39 points in the second half.

Idaho State got great production from everybody that played. Novak Topalovic had five rebounds and two blocks in 11 minutes of play. Erik Nakken hit all three of his three-point attempts in 20 minutes of play and Evann Hall had six points and seven rebounds in 13 minutes.

Idaho State returns home to host Portland State on Thursday, Feb. 11 and Sacramento State on Saturday, Feb. 13. Both games tipoff at 7 p.m. at ICCU Court in Holt Arena.  

"I told my coaches that we have two really big games this weekend at home," Evans said. "That is all I am really worried about right now is Portland State on Thursday."