Box Score Photo Gallery
POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team had four players in double figures led by
Melvin Morgan's 21 points but it wasn't enough as Utah State (3-2) defeated the Bengals (1-4), 75-62.
The Idaho State offense was held to 32.7 percent shooting from the field while Utah State shot 57.8 percent. Each team had 29 rebounds and Idaho State had a season-low 10 turnovers while Utah State had 16.
The Aggies were deadly from the 3-point line as they hit 13-for-19 while ISU was only 3-for-18.
Morgan played 39 minutes while scoring his team-high 21 points.
Chase Grabau had 15 points and
Abner Moreira and
Andre Hatchett each had 11 points. Moreira led Idaho State on the glass with seven rebounds while Hatchett had six.
The first half both teams battled back and forth as the lead changed six times and the score was tied three times. The biggest lead either team had was six points. Idaho State led 11-9 five minutes into the game after a jumper by Morgan.
The Bengals were then held scoreless for the next four minutes as USU went on an 8-0 run to lead 17-11 with 11:29 to play in the half.
Idaho State clawed back and took a 20-19 lead after a steal by Morgan and layup by Hatchett three minutes later. After ISU took another 27-26 lead thanks to a 3-point play by Moreira, Utah State out scored the Bengals 6-2 over the final three minutes to lead 32-29 at halftime.
Idaho State opened the final period by jumping out to a 38-35 lead in the first four minutes but the Aggies then went on a 17-3 run to take a 52-41 lead with 11:15 left in the game. Utah State led by as many as 19 points in the second half.
Idaho State returns to the court on Wednesday, Nov. 30 for a contest at Mountain West Conference foe, New Mexico. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
Joe O'Brien Quotes
”That is what it was all night long. They had an extraordinary night shooting the basketball. Preston Medlin came in and lite it up. That is something Utah State had not done in the first four games. They had really struggled from the 3-point line. That gave our two zones a chance to be ineffective against them. They hit two in the first 45 seconds and we had to burn a timeout.”
“The bottom line is good basketball teams learn to adjust. That was the one adjustment we needed to make. We needed to get Thoseby and Medlin off the 3-point line and we didn't. We continued to get sucked in too deep. That is inexperience showing up on the floor and Stew doing a good job of finding guys to shoot the ball well tonight.”
“We had a season low in turnovers. We get to the line 30 times and tie them in rebounding. We had 13 offensive rebounds and only gave up six. There are a lot of positive but the three-ball is college basketball. We hit 12 on Wednesday night and hit three tonight. Game set match.”
“It is a failure to get people off the 3-point line. I had no idea they would let those kids shoot that many. It was a totally different team. It was an exceptional high percentage from outside the line and that is everything. We didn't shoot the ball very well. We have to have more. We have can't have four guys carry a basketball team at this level. We have to get more people involved.”
“I was real pleased with our press. They took consistently eight or nine seconds to get across. There were a lot of positives. We just didn't play well enough to win the game.”
