Lucas Gebhart
Sports Editor
The Idaho State University men’s basketball team opened its 2016 season with an 89-55 victory over Southern Virginia University Wednesday night at Reed Gym.
Three Bengals logged double-figure points as Ethan Telfair and Geno Luzcando lead the way with 20 points apiece and Hayes Garrity chipped in 12.
But it wasn’t all sunshine and butterflies. ISU hauled in just two more rebounds than the Knights, a Division III school out of the Capital Athletic Conference.
“I think some of us are trying too hard,” head coach Bill Evans said. “I want my guys to try hard, but I want them to do things they can do.”
Evans still sees problems on the blocks. Missing assignments up top may result in easy baskets down low.
“We can’t let guys get by us,” Evans said. “Because we don’t have any guys who can block shots.”
Despite the seven-foot presence of Novak Topalovic, the Serbian native only managed to block one shot and was 1-6 from the field against an under-sized SVU team, whose tallest player is 6-10.
“Novac is a good player and he didn’t play bad tonight,” Evans said. “But he is not going to block shots.”
ISU led by seven with 3:53 to go in the first half, allowed the Knights to shoot 47.6% from the field, but led by 13 going into the locker room.
Although this was the first game of the season and ISU was without 6-8 forward Kyle Ingram,
In the second-half, the Bengals ran the Knights out of the gym.
“I thought it was very average in the first half and a lot better in the second half,” Evans said on his team’s defensive play. “Took too many chances and gave up too many baskets.”
SVU finished the night with 22 turnovers and shot 2/20 from three-point land.
“Coach has been preaching that,” said Ethan Telfair. “He wants us to force turnovers and get out and run.”
Luzcando had the team’s first five points as the Bengals raced to an early 7-0 run, forcing a SVU timeout.
“We came out excited and with a lot of energy,” Telfair said. “It kind of died down, so we have to learn how to play with that same energy throughout the game.”
Wednesday was ISU’s first shot at live action since falling to North Dakota in Reno last spring.
Robert Jones III and Hayes Garrity, both new additions, earned a start in their ISU debut, replacing the suspended Ingram and the graduated Ben Wilson.
“We have a chance to be decent this year and these guys know that,” Evans said. “There is a very, very competitive situation in who is going to play and who is not going to play.”
The Bengals travel to The Pitt on Nov. 11 to take on a top-notch Mountain West school in New Mexico.
“We are going to get better, we play in practice a lot, but it is not the same as playing in games,” Telfair said.
