POCATELLO, Idaho-
Brandon Boyd scored 27 points to spark the Idaho State men's basketball team to an 82-67 win over North Dakota on Saturday evening at Holt Arena.
The Bengals improved to 11-12 and 6-6 in Big Sky Conference play while North Dakota dropped to 8-17 and 3-10.
Boyd scored his 27 points on 11 of 17 shooting. He had five rebounds and five assists.
Novak Topalovic had 14 points and 13 rebounds. He was 7-13 from the field.
Geno Luzcando had 14 points, eight rebounds and five steals.
Jared Stutzman had 10 points and
Gary Chivichyan added eight.
Idaho State shot 53.3 percent from the field and made 11 3-pointers on 23 attempts. The Bengals out rebounded UND 34-26.
The Bengals jumped out to a 20-7 lead seven minutes into the game after a 3-pointer by Boyd. ISU had four 3-pointers during the opening game run. The Bengals maintained the lead throughout the first half but UND took a brief 37-34 lead with 33 seconds left until halftime.
The lead didn't last long as
Balint Mocsan hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 37 at the break.
ISU scored the first six points of the second half to take a 43-37 lead with 18:22 left in the game. Topalovic had four points and Luzcando had two during the opening spurt of the second half.
North Dakota stayed within striking distance as it only trailed 52-48 with 14:33 to play. Over the next six minutes ISU went on a 17-6 run to take a 69-54 lead with 8:05 remaining in the game. During the run Stutzman hit two 3-pointers and it was capped by a Boyd 3-pointer.
UND never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way as Idaho State's biggest lead was 82-65 with 1:22 to play.
Notes
- This was Idaho State's first win over North Dakota since Dec. 3, 2011.
- This was the seventh different starting lineup Idaho State has used this year as
Brandon Boyd and
Gary Chivichyan earned the start instead of
Sam Dowd and
Balint Mocsan.
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Geno Luzcando passed Matt Stucki with his 14 points to move up to 18
th on ISU's all-time scoring list. Luzcando now has 1,190 points. Stucki finished his career with 1,079. Ethan Telfair ranks 17
th with 1,119 points.
- ISU is now 2-0 this year when games are tied at the half.
- This is the ninth time this year ISU has shot better than 50 percent from the field. The Bengals are 6-3 when shooting 50 percent or better.
- Idaho State is 5-0 this year when four players score in double figures.
- The Bengals are 9-1 when holding opponents to under 70 points.
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Brandon Boyd's 11 made field goals was new career-high. His 17 field goals attempts tied his career he had vs. NJIT on Nov. 23, 2016.
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Brandon Boyd's five assists tied his career-high.
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