ISU Falls at Idaho; Gets No. 4 Seed in Big Sky Tournament

 
POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team lost 82-68 to the University of Idaho on Saturday night at the Cowan Spectrum in Moscow, Idaho. Despite the loss, the Bengals still earned the No. 4 seed at the Big Sky Conference Tournament courtesy of North Dakota's loss at Montana State. Idaho State's first game in the tournament is Thursday, March 10 at 2:35 p.m. pacific time at the Reno Events Center. ISU will play the winner of the game between No. 5 seed North Dakota and No. 12 Southern Utah.

Ethan Telfair had 24 points and was 11-11 from the free throw line. Gary Chivichyan had 17 points and hit five 3-pointers on 11 attempts.

The Vandal defense held the Bengals to 41.5 percent shooting from the field while Idaho shot 48.3 percent. The Bengals hit six 3-pointers on 25 attempts and out rebounded Idaho 32-31.

"Give Idaho a lot of credit," Idaho State coach Bill Evans said. "They did a nice job and they were very tough and physical. We turned the ball over too much. Our guys hung in there but we had too many lapses. We can't have those lapses on Thursday. We have to learn from this."

ISU led early in the first half and held a 29-28 lead with 4:21 left in the half following a basket by Chivichyan.

The Vandals then closed out the half on a 9-0 run to lead 37-29 at halftime.

Idaho opened the second half jumping out to a 44-31 lead with 16:36 left in the game. The Bengals then went on a 20-8 run to cut the U of I lead to 52-51 following two Telfair free throws with 9:56 left in the contest. A little over a minute later Kyle Ingram scored to cut the ISU deficit to 56-55 with 8:09 remaining. Idaho State would get no closer the rest of the way.

The Vandals hit five 3-pointers over the final five minutes to put the game away.
 
Men's Basketball
Tuesday March 8, 2016
First Round | Session 1
Game 1 - No. 8 Portland State vs. No. 9 Northern Colorado - 12:05 p.m.
Game 2 - No. 5 North Dakota  vs. No. 12 Southern Utah - 2:35 p.m.

Tuesday March 8, 2016
First Round | Session 2
Game 3 - No. 7 Montana State vs. No. 10 Sacramento State - 5:35 p.m.
Game 4 - No. 6 Eastern Washington vs. No. 11 Northern Arizona- 8:05 p.m.

Thursday March 10, 2016
Quarterfinal Round | Session 1
Game 5 - No. 1 Weber State vs. Winner of Game 1 - 12:05 p.m.
Game 6 - No. 4 Idaho State vs. Winner of Game 2 - 2:35 p.m.

Thursday March 10, 2016
Quarterfinal Round | Session 2
Game 7 - No. 2 Montana  vs. Winner of Game 3 - 5:35 p.m.
Game 8 - No. 3 Idaho vs. Winner of Game 4 - 8:05 p.m.

Friday March 11, 2016
Semifinal Round
Game 9 - Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6 - 5:35 p.m.
Game 10 - Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8 - 8:05 p.m.

Saturday March 12, 2016
Championship Game
Game 11 - Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10 - 5:45 p.m.