POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team survived a late run by Northern Arizona to earn a 63-61 victory on Thursday evening at the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff, Ariz. The Bengals improved to 10-10 and 5-4 in Big Sky play while NAU dropped to 4-19 and 1-9.
Gary Chivichyan had a season-high 18 points. He was 5-9 from the field and 4-8 from the three-point line. He was also a perfect 4-4 from the foul line while playing 25 minutes.
"Gary "Shot Making" Chivichyan can really shoot," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said.
Brandon Boyd had 13 points and
Jared Stutzman added 12. ISU shot 42.9 percent from the field and held the Lumberjacks to 35.4 percent. The Bengals shot 51.9 percent in the first half but was held to 31.8 percent shooting in the second. Six of ISU's seven field goals in the second half were three-pointers.
"We guarded them pretty good," Evans said. "I feel fortunate to win."
Idaho State was 9-22 from the three-point line and had 13 assists to only nine turnovers. NAU out rebounded ISU 45-33 and had 19 offensive rebounds.
Idaho State led for 34 minutes of the game and was able to fight off every run NAU made. The game was tied at 28 with 4:50 left in the first half. The Bengals then outscored the Lumberjacks 11-2 over the final minutes of the half to lead 39-30 at the break.
The Bengals opened the second half on a 9-2 run to take a 48-32 lead with 17:51 left in the game after 3-pointers by Stutzman,
Geno Luzcando and
Balint Mocsan.
NAU cut the ISU lead to 48-41 but Chivichyan hit three 3-pointers over the next four minutes to give ISU a 57-47 lead with 7:27 remaining in the game.
The Bengals were held scoreless for the next four minutes, allowing Northern Arizona to cut its deficit to 57-54 with 3:30 to play.
A layup and two free throws by Boyd gave the Bengals 61-54 lead with 58 seconds left in the game. Northern Arizona cut the Bengal lead to 63-61 with six second left and then missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Bengals the win.
"NAU hung in there," Evans said. "You have to give them a lot of credit. They kept working hard all game."
Idaho State plays at SUU on Saturday, Feb. 3. Tip off is at 12:30 p.m.
Notes
-
Gary Chivichyan had a season-high 18 points. His previous season-high was 11-points at North Dakota.
- Idaho State is now 8-1 when opponents score less than 70 points.
- Idaho State is 6-1 when opponents shoot less than 40 percent from the field.
- This was the first win in Flagstaff since a 79-73 win on Feb. 11, 2012.
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