Pocatello, ID- The Idaho State men's basketball team battled the Southern Utah University Thunderbirds Saturday night, falling short 69-59 on the ICCU Court at Reed Gym.
Southern Utah's biggest lead of the game was stretched to 18 points at 55-37 with six and a half minutes remaining in the game. The Thunderbirds went on a 20-5 run to extend the lead 18 points over the second half.
Miguel Tomley led Idaho State with 23 points on 8-of-20 shooting while adding four assists and four rebounds. Austin Smellie finished with 11 points while Brock Mackenzie and Jared Rodriguez tallied nine points a-piece.
ISU shot 38 percent for the game and 32 percent from deep while Utah shot 40 percent from the field and only 25 percent from deep. The Bengals were outrebounded by four tonight, 37-33 and the Thunderbirds doubled up the Bengals in points in the paint, 24-12. ISU ended up turning the ball over a total of 19 times tonight, leading to 23 Thunderbird points.
Idaho State trailed 33-24 at halftime and Southern Utah's biggest lead of the first half was 12 points. The game was tied only once in the first half.
Southern Utah led by 9 points early in the second half. ISU then went on a run to cut the Thunderbird lead to only three points with the score at 35-32 with 18:18 left in the 2nd half following a deep 3-point field goal by Miguel Tomley.
The Thunderbirds finished victorious in Pocatello with a final score of 69-59. They move to 5-4 on the season.
The Bengals fall to 2-7 on the season and will be back in action on Tuesday December 6th facing off against the Montana Western Bulldogs at 7 p.m. in Reed Gym
