POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team lost 78-65 to Santa Clara on Friday night at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.
Santa Clara shot 60 percent from the field and forced 22 Bengal turnovers. Idaho State shot 37 percent and also forced 22 Bronco turnovers.
ISU was 7-17 from the three-point line while Santa Clara was 6-14. Idaho State was 20-30 from the free throw line and Santa Clara finished 10-12 from the line.
Idaho State out rebounded Santa Clara 31-27.
Malik Porter and
Chidi Udengwu each had a team-best five rebounds.
"We are severely undersized right now so for us to win the rebounding battle is a huge thing," Idaho State coach
Ryan Looney said.
Udengwu had a season and team-high 12 points while Terik Cool added 11 points.
Idaho State fell behind 18-9 in the first eight minutes of the game. The Bengals then scored nine straight points thanks to 2 3-pointers from Cool and one from
Austin Smellie.
Santa Clara countered the Bengals 9-0 run with a 12-0 run to lead 30-18 with 6:45 left in the first half. The Broncos extended their lead to 38-23 three minutes later. ISU was able to cut its deficit to 43-33 at halftime after layup by
Coreyoun Rushin with one second remaining.
Both teams combined for 28 first half turnovers as ISU had 15 in the first 20 minutes and Santa Clara had 13.
In the first minute of the second half the Bengals cut the Bronco lead to 43-35. Idaho State would get no closer the rest of the game. With the score 54-44 with 14:07 remaining, Santa Clara went on a 21-3 run to lead 75-47 with 7:33 remaining.
"We knew coming in that Santa Clara was going to be the biggest team we played this year," Looney said. "Santa Clara's plan was to go down low often and early and if I was the coach against us I would do the same thing. Santa Clara did a good job of taking us out of most of what we wanted to do."
Over the final seven minutes the Bengals outscored Santa Clara 18-3.
"It is something we take pride in every day," Looney said. "Whether we are in practice or a game we want to play with a lot of energy. We want our culture to be built around that. I am excited that we won the rebounding margin and forced 22 turnovers. We take great pride in getting to the line more than our opponent."
Idaho State returns home to host West Coast Baptist at 7 p.m. on Nov. 27 in Reed Gym.
