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| Idaho State Journal |
Was Idaho State’s three-point overtime victory at San Francisco last Monday a harbinger of what’s to come?
Chris Hansen poured in 33 points in 40 minutes — a career high.
Tomas Sanchez directed a Bengals’ offense that slapped a big 93 on the scoreboard, more points than they had recorded in a single game all last season, and the senior point guard set a career-high with 24 points.
Andre Hatchett put up 20 points — not a career high — but he did grab 12 rebounds. And, yes, you guessed it, that’s a career high.
Idaho State (2-1) beat San Francisco (2-2) on its home floor after watching a five-point lead dissipate in the last two and a half minutes of regulation.
Idaho State beat San Francisco, a team picked fourth in the West Coast Conference preseason polls, and that was after the Dons led 90-86 with less than two minutes left in overtime.
Idaho State beat San Francisco, ending a 22-game road nonconference losing stretch that dated back to November of 2009, and a 13-game winless streak to nonconference Division I opponents.
It’s the kind of win the Bengals fouled up a year ago, especially on the road. In 2012-13, head coach Bill Evans’ first season, ISU finished 1-14 away from Holt Arena.
In Hatchett’s first three years wearing orange and black, the earliest ISU won a game away from Pocatello came in late December. In the same time frame, the Bengals went 5-41 on the road.
“I’d be lying saying it doesn’t feel good,” Hatchett said.
But, according to Evans, now is the time for perspective.
“You can jump up and down for about five minutes,” he said. “... We need to move on.”
The Bengals are moving on because the USF game is one of 29 on the schedule, and Big Sky Conference action is just over a month away.
Upsetting the Dons was a big win, Hatchett said, but for a program that does not have a player on its roster with a Big Sky postseason tournament victory, it’s — hopefully — a (winning) feeling they can repeat.
“It’s a stepping stone, I guess you could say,” Hatchett said.
And maybe it’s a building block to a foundation of winning basketball. Hansen said the only way the Bengals found a way in San Francisco was through pure and simple toughness.
“We made the plays that experienced teams make instead of having a costly turnover or not getting a rebound,” he said.
In the end, Idaho State’s upset on the night of Nov. 18 will be looked at with the aid of 20-20 hindsight vision. If the Bengals barge forward from this point and exceed lowly preseason expectations, it will come from the confidence gained in an early-season win on the road.
But if ISU stumbles and finds itself at the bottom of the Big Sky standings, that USF victory will sit as an early-season upset with a collective, “What the heck happened to the Dons when they played the Bengals?”
Check back in March for the answers to those questions. Now is the time for Idaho State to worry about game No. 4 of the season.
ISU plays Cal State Bakersfield at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif., at 8 p.m. tonight.
The Roadrunners are 3-1 overall and have beaten Big Sky opponent Sacramento State 74-66 Nov. 13.
Idaho State is averaging 84 points while Bakersfield has not allowed an opponent to reach 67 in a single game.
“They’re good defensively, very good defensively; way better defensively than some of the teams we’ve played,” Evans said.
It will be the first of two meetings this season. Bakersfield visits Pocatello Dec. 28.
Listen to the game live on 930 AM or 102.5 FM.
NOTES: Idaho State is 1-2 all time against Cal State Bakersfield. The last Bengal victory came in the 1976-77 season at home, an 88-73 win. ... ISU’s Chris Hansen is fifth in the Big Sky scoring at 18.3 points per game. Three Bengals are in the top 20.
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