Idaho State at San Francisco post-game blog

Idaho State 93, San Francisco 90, OT

For the Journal's game recap, click here.

Star of the game: It's a three-way split between Chris Hansen, Andre Hatchett and Tomas Sanchez. These are the big three for Idaho State, guys head coach Bill Evans needs to lead his team. Now we've seen what the Bengals are capable of on a night when they all play well.

(San Francisco, by the way, was favored over Idaho State by 15.5 to 16 points.)

Hansen set a new career high with 33 points. Sanchez had a career-high 24 and he added five assists (the one caveat is that Sanchez coughed the ball up four times. But some of that is results from a point guard who's playing 38 minutes and is expected to direct the offense in half-court sets and push the Bengals' tempo in the open court) and Hatchett tied his career high of 20 by hitting 14 of his 21 free-throw attempts. Plus, Hatchett led Idaho State with 12 boards which helped the Bengals keep the rebounding margin close (as a team, USF grabbed 41 boards and ISU had 37).

Other star of the game: Idaho State's resiliency. Evans brought it up several times in his postgame radio interview with Tim Lewis, the Bengals had to dig deep to end a 22-game nonconference road losing streak (shout out to the ISU Sports Information staff for that stat). They had a big lead early (25-13), only to watch that disappear after a 21-3 Dons' run.

And ISU lost a four-point lead with 1:36 left in regulation.Yet, with the big three hitting shots, the Bengals getting to the foul line and USF refusing to shoot anything but a 3-pointer, Idaho State found a way. That's a savvy, tough win on the road. Who knows if it leads to more wins in the Big Sky (Idaho State still has its issues with depth), but it appears like a major step forward for a program coming off a six-win season.


Idaho State vs San Francisco
11/18/13 7:00 p.m. at San Francisco, CA (Memorial Gymnasium)
At San Francisco, CA (Memorial Gymnasium)

IDAHO STATE 93, SAN FRANCISCO 90
IDAHO STATE (2-1)
HANSEN, Chris 12-20 4-4 33; SANCHEZ, Tomas 7-13 7-10 24; HATCHETT, Andre 3-9
14-21 20; SOLARIN, Jeffrey 4-9 0-0 8; TYLER, Scotty 2-2 0-0 4; HALL, Evann
1-5 0-0 2; PREH, Ayibakuro 1-2 0-0 2; SMITH, Justin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-60
25-35 93.

SAN FRANCISCO (2-2)
ADAMS. Chris 7-12 0-0 21; TOLLEFSEN, Mark 7-11 2-4 18; PINKINS, Kruize 6-6
2-5 14; DOOLIN, Cody 5-12 0-0 13; HOLMES, Avry 4-13 0-0 10; DICKERSON, Cole
3-11 0-0 8; GLOVER, Matt 2-4 1-3 6; DERKSEN, Tim 0-3 0-0 0; HILLIARD, Corey
0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-73 5-12 90.
Idaho State...................   39   43   11  -   93
San Francisco.................   44   38    8  -   90
3-point goals--Idaho State 8-15 (HANSEN, Chris 5-11; SANCHEZ, Tomas 3-3;
HALL, Evann 0-1), San Francisco 17-46 (ADAMS. Chris 7-12; DOOLIN, Cody 3-8;
HOLMES, Avry 2-10; DICKERSON, Cole 2-7; TOLLEFSEN, Mark 2-5; GLOVER, Matt
1-2; DERKSEN, Tim 0-1; HILLIARD, Corey 0-1). Fouled out--Idaho
State-SANCHEZ, Tomas, San Francisco-GLOVER, Matt; HOLMES, Avry.
Rebounds--Idaho State 37 (HATCHETT, Andre 12), San Francisco 41 (TOLLEFSEN,
Mark 11). Assists--Idaho State 14 (SANCHEZ, Tomas 5), San Francisco 21
(DOOLIN, Cody 6). Total fouls--Idaho State 15, San Francisco 22. Technical
fouls--Idaho State-None, San Francisco-None. A-1262