OGDEN, Utah- The Idaho State men's basketball team beat Weber State 78-70 on Monday night at the Dee Events Center. The Bengals never trailed and led by as many as 14 at four different points in the game.
The win snapped a 12-game losing streak that started when Weber State beat Idaho State in Pocatello in January.
Idaho State had four players score in double figures, led by
Malik Porter's 21 on 9-12 shooting. He had a team-high seven rebounds.
Tarik Cool had 15 points on 7-11 shooting while
Austin Smellie had 14 and
Jared Stutzman 10.
Idaho State was 15-17 from the free throw line, led by Stutzman's 7-8. The Bengals out rebounded Weber State 33-27. Idaho State only turned the ball over eight times.
The Bengals shot 50 percent for the game and held Weber State to 42.9 percent from the field.
Idaho State jumped on the Wildcats from the get-go. In the first six minutes the Bengals jumped out to a 18-6 lead. The opening run was sparked by six points from Cool and eight from Smellie.
The lead was later extended to 29-16 with 8:25 left in the first half after a basket by
Chidi Udengwu.
Weber State made a run to cut the ISU lead to 32-26 three minutes later but the Bengals countered with a run of their own to extend the lead to 43-29 following a basket by
Jaxon Edelmayer with 2:09 left in the half. Idaho State led 46-32 with 1:22 remaining in the first half before Weber State scored the final five points to make the score 46-37 at halftime.
Weber State opened the second half on a 9-2 run to cut the ISU lead to 48-46 with 17:52 left in the game.
After a Bengal timeout, Idaho State countered with an 11-0 run over the next two plus minutes to extend the lead back to 13 at 59-46 following four straight points by Smellie.
Idaho State's lead ballooned to 14 at 64-50 following a basket by Porter with 11:27 to play. Weber State got no closer than eight points the rest of the way. Porter but an exclamation point on the victory by finishing a lob pass from Cool with a huge dunk with 1:48 to play. The dunk gave Idaho State a 78-64 lead.
Idaho State concludes the regular season on Thursday, March 5 at Eastern Washington and March 7 at Idaho. Both games tip off at 7 p.m.
Notes
- Idaho State has won in Ogden two of the last three years. The Bengals won 62-60 in 2017, lost 76-59 in January of 2019 before earning the victory on Monday.
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Malik Porter has scored 20 points or more in five of the last nine games.
- Idaho State is 5-1 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field.
- Idaho State shot 15-17 from the free throw line, good for 88.2 percent. That mark is a season-high.
