Denim Millward
Sports Editor
A rough stretch of games that started in December continued into the new year for the Idaho State University men’s basketball team.
Despite the majority of the contests being close, the Bengals have only managed a single win in their last eight games, going 1-7 since December 18.
The slide began in the Utah State tournament held December 18 through 20 in Logan, Utah.
In their first contest, the Bengals competed in a thriller against South Dakota State. The game was tied at the end of regulation, and despite 22 points from senior forward Jeff Solarin and 21 from senior guard Chris Hansen, the Bengals found themselves on the wrong end of a 75-72 final score.
“We had a chance to put things away with 50 seconds left in regulation and we got a bad shot,” head coach Bill Evans said to ISU Sports Information following the game. “This is a hard loss. These ones are tough losses.”
The rest of the tournament didn’t fare any better for ISU, as they lost to host team Utah State December 19 by a final score of 69-56 and fell to Bakersfield 59-50 the following day.
The Bengals had just three days rest following playing three games in three nights before heading to Orem, Utah to face off against the Utah Valley Wolverines.
The Bengals excelled defensively, holding the Wolverines to 36 percent shooting from the field and a miniscule 18 percent from the three-point line. ISU also forced 17 turnovers and grabbed 12 steals, four of which were compiled by freshman Geno Luzcando in just 11 minutes on the court.
In a game that had 11 lead changes, UVU took the lead with under a minute and the Bengals’ attempt to tie it up again fell short. The Bengals lost another heart-breaker 51-47.
“Our defense is fine,” Evans said to ISU Sports Information after the game. “We have to rebound the ball better and we need to score better. It is the offensive end where we are struggling immensely.”
Following a nine-day layoff for the holidays, the Bengals opened conference play on New Year’s Day against the University of Idaho in Moscow and suffered a 77-54 defeat.
The contest against Eastern Washington two days later was much closer, but the Bengals fell to 0-2 in conference play by virtue of a 65-57 loss against the Eagles in Cheney.
Idaho State’s fortunes finally changed five days later in its conference home-opener against the Montana State Bobcats January 8 in Holt Arena.
The game couldn’t have started worse for the Bengals, with the Bobcats racing out to a commanding 31-12 more than halfway through the first half. ISU’s play picked up somewhat after that, but the Bobcats still led by 12 at halftime 40-28.
The second half couldn’t have been any more different than the first.
Hansen scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half and the Bengals held Montana State to just 25 percent shooting, as opposed to the 53.3 percent rate in the first half.
The second half began with an 18-5 run by Idaho State that tied the game at 46.
The Bengals took their first lead with just under ten minutes left in the game and, after trading the lead back and forth, pulled ahead for good with just over three minutes left.
“Our guys were terrific in the second half,” Evans said to ISU Sports Information. “Their mind set was really good. They were not about to roll over. I would have been really disappointed if we would have lost because their effort and desire to win was there tonight.”
In addition to Hansen’s 26, Solarin had 14 points and 4 rebounds while redshirt junior guard Ben Wilson chipped in 10 points and redshirt senior Nnamdi Ezenwa tallied 9 points and 5 rebounds.
The Bengals’ return to the win column lasted a mere two days, as the Bengals fell to the Montana Grizzlies 90-64 two days later at Holt Arena.
Coach Evans’ squad will next head to Cedar City, Utah on January 22 to continue Big Sky conference play against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds. January 24 will feature a match up for Idaho State against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in Flagstaff.
