Southern Utah at Idaho State postgame blog

Idaho State 60, Southern Utah 45

Here’s the Journal’s game recap.

Find a photo gallery from the game here.

Star of the game: Andre Hatchett. In five league games, Hatchett has transformed into ISU’s most consistent player.
    Against the Thunderbirds, the 6-3 guard tallied 17 points and six boards. And more importantly, Hatchett continues to both score and create open shots for teammates.
    Idaho State head coach Bill Evans has lauded Hatchett’s ability to facilitate the Bengals’ offense. He’s one of a few players on the ISU roster who can take his man off the dribble when an offensive set breaks down or the shot clock is drifting toward zero.

Reason for optimism: Rebounding. Idaho State’s ability to rebound its own misses must have frustrated the Thunderbirds. Twenty different times, ISU missed a shot and 20 different times the Bengals ran down the offensive board.
    The decisive 46-27 advantage in rebounding might have been the difference between the ultimate 15-point margin and a much tighter game.
    Then again — as Evans pointed out after the game — the Bengals only had chances for so many o-boards because they missed 32 of their 50 field-goal attempts.

Wrapping up the Big Sky: 
Montana State 70, Northern Colorado 55   
     The Bobcats handed the Bears their first conference loss, and we’ve got a three-way tie at the top of the league standings with Montana State, Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona.

 Portland State 68, Sacramento State 64   
    After starting the conference season with three straight losses, Portland State has won its last two.
    PSU head coach Tyler Geving tweeted after the game, “3 best things in life. Marriage birth of a child and road wins! Not always in that order! Hahaha”

Northern Arizona 84, Eastern Washington   
     The Lumberjacks have the best road win of the year (at Montana, Jan. 16), and they’re two points removed from a spotless conference record.
    Folks, your 2013-14 coach of the year goes to NAU’s Jack Murphy.
    (Wait, we’re 25 percent of the way through the league schedule and I can’t give away awards that are supposed to reflect the entire length of the season? OK, fine ...)
    Folks, your early front-runner for the 2013-14 coach of the year goes to NAU’s Jack Murphy.
    (And I should give consideration to Evans, too. The Bengals have won as many games (6) this year than they did all of last season.)

Montana 84, North Dakota 71