Box Score
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah- The Idaho State men's basketball team rallied from 10 points down in the second half but the rally fell short as Central Michigan's Kyle Randall scored a basket with .5 seconds left in regulation to lift his team to a 54-52 victory over the Bengals in the final day of the Utah Thanksgiving Tournament at the Huntsman Center.
Chris Hansen led Idaho State with 12 points while
Tomas Sanchez and
Melvin Morgan each had nine points.
Jakub Kusmieruk had seven points in 18 minutes of play. Ezenwa had a team-high six rebounds while Sanchez had six assists.
Idaho State shot 48.8 percent from the floor while Central Michigan was held to 36 percent shooting. Idaho State had 11 assists to 11 turnovers while Central Michigan was forced into 12 turnovers. .
The difference in the game was in rebounds as the Bengals were out rebounded 38-23. Central Michigan had 18 offensive rebounds.
“Our effort was good tonight,” Idaho State coach
Bill Evans said. “We got down 10 and came back and we scored over 50 points for the first time this year. The thing we didn't do was we did not rebound the basketball. We have to be very efficient offensively and defensively.”
Idaho State led 52-51 with 1:31 to play in the game after a layup by Morgan. John Simons tied the game at 52 on a free throw with 1:09 remaining. Idaho State had the ball with 35 seconds remaining but a turnover gave the ball back to Central Michigan that set up the winning basket.
“It never comes down to one play,” Evans said. “It is a combination of a bunch of plays and they made more plays than we us. We are probably lucky it was 54-52 with the way we rebounded the basketball.”
Idaho State trailed 37-27 with 16:15 left in the game and 41-32 with 11:22 remaining. The Bengals cut the deficit to 42-41 with 8:29 left in the game after a layup by Kusmieruk. Idaho State tied the game at 48 with 4:34 after a 3-pointer by Hansen and took brief one-point leads at 50-49 with 3:16 remaining and 52-51 with 1:31 left in the contest.
Idaho State returns to the court on Nov. 29 for a home game at Holt Arena against Montana Western. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.
We Are Your Bengals
