POCATELLO, Idaho- Idaho State is 3-0 in the Big Sky Conference play for the first time since the 2006-07 season after beating Northern Arizona 64-60 on Saturday at ICCU Court. The Bengals are now 8-6 overall while NAU dropped to 3-14 and 0-4 in league.
Jared Stutzman led the Bengals with 18 and a career-high eight rebounds.
Novak Topalovic had 11 points and seven rebounds and
Balint Mocsan had 10 points.
Idaho State shot 41.8 percent from the field while the Lumberjacks were held to 39.3 percent shooting. The Bengals were out rebounded 39-37. Both teams had 13 turnovers while ISU finished with seven steals.
The Bengals led for all but one minute of the game but the ISU lead was never bigger than 12 points.
ISU jumped out to an early 9-2 and 11-4 lead in the first six minutes of the game. NAU got within one point at three different times in the first half with the final time being 21-20 with 1:33 to play until halftime. The Bengals then scored five straight points to lead 26-20 at halftime thanks to a 3-pointer by Stutzman.
Idaho State opened the second half by jumping out to a 40-30 lead with 12:09 left in the game after a three-point play by Stutzman. The lead was extended to 12 at 46-34 with 9:40 remaining after a layup by
Blake Truman.
The Bengals led 52-40 with 7:16 left in the game after back-to-back 3-pointers by Mocsan.
Northern Arizona cut the ISU lead to 63-60 with 53 seconds left but Luzcando took a charge in the final seconds that sealed the win.
Idaho State plays at North Dakota on Thursday, January 11 and Northern Colorado on Saturday, January 13.
Final Game Notes
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Jared Stutzman had a career-high eight rebounds.
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Blake Truman tied his career-high with seven points. He tied his career-high in minutes played with 18.
- Idaho State is 3-0 in Big Sky Conference play for the first time since the 2006-07 season.
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Geno Luzcando is now five points away reaching the 1,000 point mark.
- Idaho State is 6-1 this year when leading at halftime.
- 8-6 is the best start through 14 games since the 2001-02 team started 8-6.
