POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team held off a late Northern Arizona rally to earn an 81-79 road win on Thursday night at the Walkup Sky Dome in Flagstaff, Ariz. Idaho State improved to 9-12 and 5-7 in Big Sky play while NAU dropped to 7-15 and 5-7 in league.
Idaho State led by as many as 19 points at 59-40 with 17 minutes left in the game. NAU rallied to tie the game at 79 with 21 seconds left but a tip-in by
Chier Maker with .9 seconds left lifted Idaho State to the victory.
"Chier made a big play at the end," Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said.
Idaho State shot 56.1 percent from the floor and made 12 3-pointers on 24 attempts.
Balint Mocsan led the three-point barrage by tying his career-high with seven on nine attempts. He led the team with 21 points.
Maker had 15 points and eight rebounds.
Brandon Boyd had 13 points and six assists while
Kelvin Jones had 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Bengals had 14 assists but made five free throws on only eight attempts while NAU finished the evening 18-22.
NAU shot 50 percent from the floor.
The Bengals led the Lumberjacks 50-39 at halftime thanks to a shooting percentage of 66.7 percent. Idaho State was 8-14 from three-point line in the first half.
"I knew we couldn't shoot 67 percent from the floor the entire game," Evans said. "We didn't play bad in the second half but they got 22 free throws. We did a terrific job on their No. 21 (Luke Adalovic). We did a good job guarding the guys we wanted to guard."
Idaho State scored the first seven points of the second half to lead 57-39 following two baskets by Boyd and a 3-pointer by Maker.
The Bengals maintained its double digit lead until the final seven minutes of the game. ISU stretched its lead back to 10 at 77-67 with 5:40 to play after a layup by
Alonzo Walker. NAU then outscored Idaho State 12-2 to tie the game at 79. Maker then hit his game-winning layup on a tip in after a miss by Boyd.
Idaho State is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. at Southern Utah.
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