Idaho State 87, Portland State 76
Game recap
Photo gallery
Star of the game: Impossible to choose considering Tomas Sanchez went for 20, Andre Hatchett had 24 and Chris Hansen finished with a game-high 27. But I’ll go with Hatchett here. His 24 points were a career high and he had four assists and seven rebounds.
Hatchett played well all game, but it was his production in the first 20 minutes that helped the Bengals recover from an early six-point deficit. Portland State banged home three 3-pointers in the first four minutes and looked like they were on fire. ISU recomposed and Hatchett led the way with 15 in the first half.
After the game, Hatchett talked about playing with great energy from the opening tip.
“I’ve been having some slower starts,” he said, “so I wanted to be really aggressive. I’ve been really passive, and I just wanted to ... put my team in a winning position.”
Star of the game No. 2: Evann Hall. Hansen, Sanchez and Hatchett provided all the highlight plays (combining to score 82 percent Idaho State’s total points), but I can’t overlook the sophomore guard’s efforts off the bench.
Hall scored nine points (3-of-6 shooting) and nabbed eight rebounds in 23 minutes. His scoring mentality and athleticism on the perimeter provided big dividends for ISU.
Reason for concern: Idaho State had 21 turnovers and that kept Portland State in the game. The Vikings had 24 points of those 21 ISU giveaways and they took 64 shots from the field (compare that to the 46 shots Idaho State had).
On another note: Ajak Magot, ISU’s 6-foot-11 junior center transfer from Cochise College, played the first minutes of his Bengal career against Portland State.
Magot broke his foot in the Bengals’ exhibition opener and has been out since. He dressed for the Bakersfield game but never entered.
Magot was on the court for seven minutes and had two rebounds, one turnover and one block. Not great numbers but Evans says he’s still learning their defensive system. And it’s not about numbers with Magot or even starter Ayibakuro Preh. Their job is to protect the paint, intimidate drivers with their length and athleticism and rebound.
Magot, who is extremely athletic, provides all those things and he’s got 19 conference games to work his way back into shape (and to gain a comfort level in ISU’s system). He provides roster depth in the frontcourt that the Bengals have lacked since he went out.
Wrapping up the Big Sky: The big surprise of the night is clearly Northern Arizona’s 73-65 victory against Montana in Missoula, snapping the Grizzlies 31-game home winning streak against Big Sky Conference teams.
Find the Missoulian’s excellent game recap here.
In other games, North Dakota needed 25 points and 11 rebounds from its star Troy Huff to subdue Southern Utah 65-61.
Montana State cruised to a home victory over Sacramento State 70-55, and Weber State overcame 30 points from Eastern Washington’s Tyler Harvey to knock off the Eagles 74-67.
No comments:
Post a Comment