POCATELLO, Idaho- Thanks to a career-high of 33 points from
Jared Stutzman and record-tying 17 3-pointers, the Idaho State men's basketball team defeated Montana State 101-78 in Bozeman on Thursday evening.
The win gives Idaho State a 14-14 record and a 9-8 mark in Big Sky Conference. ISU is a guaranteed a .500 record or better in conference for only the third time in the last nine years. The 2008-09 team finished 9-7 and the 2015-16 team went 11-7.
Stutzman scored his 33 points on 11-14 shooting from the field. He was 8-11 from the three-point line and he had five rebounds.
Geno Luzcando had a season-high 22 points. He was 9-12 from the field.
Brandon Boyd had 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals while
Balint Mocsan had 14 points and five rebounds.
Blake Truman had five points and six rebounds off the bench.
Idaho State shot 54 percent from the field (34-63) and 53 percent from the three-point line (17-32).
"Somethings are unexplainable other than my team played really good and shot the ball well," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. "We shared the ball well and we were extremely unselfish. Our whole team played good."
The Bengals were 16-23 from the foul line and out rebounded Montana State 37-31. ISU had 16 assists to only seven turnovers.
Idaho State led for a majority of the game. Montana State's last lead of the game was 21-20 with 9:22 left in the first half.
ISU then took a 28-21 lead with 7:17 left in the half following a 3-pointer by Stutzman. The Bengals maintained the lead and built a 40-30 lead with 2:50 left until halftime after another basket by Stutzman.
The Bobcats outscored ISU 8-1 over the final two minutes to cut the Idaho State lead to 41-38 at the break.
Montana State tied the game at 41 in the opening seconds of the second half. The Bengals then went on an 18-3 run to take a 59-44 lead after a layup by Boyd with 15:47 left in the game. During the run the Bengals were 5-6 from the three-point line.
Montana State got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way. ISU led by as many as 25 points at 101-76 following a jumper by
Sam Dowd in the final minute of the game.
Idaho State closes out the regular season on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Montana.
Notes
-
Jared Stutzman had a career-high 33 points. He as a 11-14 from the field and 8-11 from the three-point line.
-
Geno Luzcando had a season-high 22 points.
- This is only the third time ISU has scored over 100 points since January of 2006. The Bengals lost 107-106 to Sacramento State on Jan. 12, 2006 and beat Dickinson State 110-85 on Nov. 16, 2015.
- ISU was 17-32 from the three-point line, tying the school record for most 3's in a game. ISU also hit 17 3's vs. Dickinson State on 38 attempts.
