POCATELLO, Idaho - The Idaho State Bengals fell to the University of Central Arkansas Bears 81-77 Sunday afternoon in Conway, Arkansas.
The Bengals road woes continue as the Orange and Black fall to 1-6 on the year. Five of the six losses final scores have been within five points, and today was no different for the Bengals.
After holding a lead midway through the first half, the Bears outscored the Bengals 28-14 over the last 10 minutes to take a 37-29 lead over ISU into the locker room.
The Bengals came out of the locker room hot in the second half, and after outscoring the Bears 30-22, tied the game with 6:54 to play off of a Miguel Tomley free throw.
After trading baskets, the Bears went on a mini-run to take a 69-61 lead with 5:19 to play.
The Bengals didn't give up. Stringing together made field goals by Tomley, Brayden Parker, Jared Rodriguez and Jay Nagle, the Bengals cut the lead to 75-72 with 1:22 to play.
Both teams continued to trade baskets and with 17 seconds left, Tomley hit a three-pointer in transition to cut the lead to two.
In the waning seconds of the game, UCA was able to get the ball back, forcing the Bengals to foul, giving UCA freethrows and the 81-77 victory.
The two teams were very evenly matched in the contest with both teams shooting over 47 percent from the field with 30+ percent from three and the Bengals shooting 64.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Tomley had a career game for the Bengals, scoring 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the floor, going five-of-seven from three.
Brock Mackenzie and Jared Rodriguez also scored in double-digits with 17 and 12 points respectively.
The Bengals were clean on defense in the game, stealing the ball nine times out of the Bears 11 turnovers.
Idaho State has one more game on the road before returning home. Tuesday, Nov. 29 the Bengals are in Kansas City for a rematch from last season with UMKC. Tip-off is set for 6:00 PM MT.
