Bengals Drop 79-68 Contest to Montana State

POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team lost 79-68 to Montana State on Thursday night in Reed Gym. Montana State improved to 11-6 in Big Sky Conference play and ISU fell to 3-14.

Robert Jones III led the Bengals in scoring with 16 points on 6-10 shooting from the field. Jones, Novak Topalovic and Brandon Boyd tied for a game-high six rebounds.

Balint Mocsan had 15 points on five 3-pointers off the bench while Topalovic had 14 on 7-9 shooting and Geno Luzcando had 12 points, five assists, four steals and four rebounds.

Montana State shot 59.6 percent from the field and Idaho State shot 43.5 percent.

The Bobcats hit 11-21 3-pointers and ISU was 8-22. MSU turned the ball over 14 times and ISU had 11 turnovers.

"Montana State was 11-21 from 3 and our goal was to try and keep them off the arc," Idaho State coach Bill Evans said. "I knew Tyler Hall was going to get 20. They had some other guys step up tonight and make shots. I don't think our defense was very good but I did think we tried hard."

The game was close throughout the contest as Montana State did not pull away until the final six minutes of the game.

The Bengals led 14-12 with 13:19 left in the first half after back-to-back baskets by Jones. ISU's biggest lead was 18-15 after a bucket by Luzcando two minutes later and 20-17 following a tip in by Stephen Lennox with 8:04 left until halftime.

Montana State then went on a 10-0 run to take a 27-20 lead three minutes later. The Bobcats went into the half leading 32-29.

Idaho State had a brief 41-40 lead after a 3-pointer by Mocsan but Montana State quickly took the lead for good after a basket by Sam Neumann.

The Bengals trailed 62-58 with 6:08 to play in the game when Montana State went on a 12-4 run to take a 74-62 lead with 2:15 left. The Bobcats biggest lead of the game was 13 at 79-66.

Tyler Hall led Montana State with a game-high 20 points on 8-11 shooting.

Idaho State closes out the 2016-17 regular season on Saturday at 7 p.m. vs. Montana in Reed Gym. It is the final home game for senior Ethan Telfair.