SPOKANE, Wash.- The Idaho State men's basketball team lost 120-79 to No. 3 Gonzaga on Tuesday evening in front of a sold out crowd of 6,000 at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
"We played a really good basketball team who is big and strong at the four and five positions," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "They really attacked us in there."
Idaho State shot 45.7 percent from the field (32-70) and Gonzaga shot 58.6 percent (41-70).
Brandon Boyd led Idaho State in scoring with 15 points and
Chier Maker had 14 points and seven rebounds.
Kelvin Jones had 11 points in 13 minutes.
Alonzo Walker had six rebounds off the bench.
"We had guys who played pretty good tonight," Evans said.
Idaho State was 9-13 from free throw line and 6-18 from the three-point line. Gonzaga was 30-37 from the free throw line and 8-24 from the foul line.
The Bengals were out rebounded 42-30.
Idaho State hung with the nationally ranked Bulldogs early. ISU trailed 17-6 four minutes into the game. Over the next five minutes ISU outscored the Bulldogs 15-3 to take a 21-20 lead with 11:20 left in the first half following a 3-pointer by
Austin Smellie.
Boyd scored six of his 15 points during the run. The Bengals trailed 26-24 with 8:45 left in the half when Gonzaga began to break the game open.
"We settled in and made some baskets," Evans said.
The Bulldogs scored the next eight points to lead 34-24 and lead would extend to 47-31 with 5:14 left in the first half.
Gonzaga led 60-42 at halftime and would lead by as many as 43 points late in the second half.
Rui Hachimura led Gonzaga with 33 points.
Idaho State plays at Boise State on Saturday, Nov. 10. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
