POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team lost 65-55 to Eastern Washington on Monday afternoon at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The Bengals led by as many as 11 points in the first half and held a 33-29 lead at halftime. Eastern Washington then outscored ISU 36-22 in the second half.
Balint Mocsan had 17 points on 6-12 shooting from the field. He was 5-10 from the three-point line in 34 minutes of play.
Kelvin Jones had 12 points and a season-high nine rebounds.
The Bengals shot 46.4 percent in the first half but was held to 36 percent shooting in the second half while making only nine field goals.
Eastern Washington shot 52 percent in the second half and 46.4 percent for the game. The Eagles forced the Bengals into 17 turnovers.
"You have to give credit to Eastern Washington," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "They forced us into 17 turnovers and that was the difference. We didn't shoot the ball well from three but they defended it well. We really imploded offensively. We weren't good."
Idaho State did get off to a nice start in the first half as they opened the game with an 8-0 lead and later a 21-11 lead following a Mocsan 3-pointer with 11:54 to play until halftime.
Idaho State later led 27-17 with 6:21 left in the half after a four-point play by
Jared Stutzman. The Bengals biggest lead of the game was 31-20 with 4:19 to play until the break after a layup by
Alonzo Walker.
In the final four minutes of the first half and the first five minutes of the second half, the Eagles went on a 21-7 run to take a 41-38 lead with 15:11 left in the game.
The Bengals led 49-48 after a basket by
Brandon Boyd and the game would be tied at 51 with 5:58 to play following another basket by Boyd.
But over the final five minutes, Idaho State was outscored 14-4 and turned the ball over five times to allow Eastern Washington to pull away.
Idaho State returns home for its Big Sky Conference home opener on Thursday, January 3 vs. SUU. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. in Holt Arena.
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