POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team rallied from 14 points down with 10 minutes left in the second half to beat Santa Clara 68-66 on Friday evening at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.
Idaho State trailed 55-41 with 10 minutes left in the game. The Bengals then went on a 21-11 run to cut the Bronco lead to 66-62 with 2:47 remaining. A three-point play by
Kelvin Jones cut the Santa Clara lead to 66-65 with 1:46 to play and Jones scored the go-ahead layup on a pass from
Jared Stutzman to give Idaho State the 67-66 lead with 15 seconds left.
Jones later hit a free throw with two seconds left to make the score 68-66. In the final 15 seconds of the game
Lyle Sutton deflected an inbounds pass and
Balint Mocsan came up with a steal to prevent the Broncos attempt from tying the game.
"It was a team effort," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "We showed a lot of grit to be down like we were and to come back. We did a really good job of defending down the stretch. We just kept chipping away. I thought Balint was really good defensively. I am proud of the way we played."
Idaho State improved to 4-3 while Santa Clara dropped to 3-6. The Bengals 4-3 start is the best start to a season since the 2005-06 team started 6-1.
Jones had a season-high 20 points on 7-12 shooting in only 23 minutes of play. He was also 6-7 from the free throw line. He had four rebounds and one block. Jones scored 13 of his 20 minutes in the final 10 minute spurt that allowed Idaho State to get back into the game.
Brandon Boyd had nine points and Mocsan and
Gary Chivichyan each had eight.
Idaho State had only five turnovers and had 14 assists, led by five from Boyd. Idaho State shot 36.9 percent from the field while Santa Clara shot 45.3 percent.
Idaho State led 34-29 at halftime. Santa Clara then outscored the Bengals 26-6 in the first 10 minutes of the second half to take a 55-41 lead.
"Give Santa Clara credit," Evans said. "They are a well-coached team and played really hard. It is hard to win on the road. We need to keep getting better."
Idaho State has 12 days off before playing at Utah Valley on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.
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