Idaho State vs Utah Valley men's basketball postgame

Check out the Journal's recap of Idaho State's 60-57 loss to Utah Valley

Ezenwa scores career high, but Bengals lose to Utah Valley

NOTES
Five-guard lineup
Several times Wednesday night, Idaho State went with a five-guard lineup against Utah Valley.
The Bengals played 6-foot-6 wing Marcus Bradley at the five or center position, and he was the tallest Bengal on the floor other than point guard Ben Wilson, who is also 6-6.

“I think we’ll play Marcus a lot more there, and I think he can provide us with some offense,” Bill Evans said. “The only baskets he made were away from the basket. They weren’t at the basket. And I know he can score the ball at the basket. I know he can. He’s going to have to along with Solarin.”

Playing aggressively
In part, Idaho State fought back from a nine-point hole in the second half by extending out its zone and harassing Utah Valley’s ball handlers.

The Bengals also pressed in the full court and six ISU players combined to snatch a combined seven steals.

“People get a little comfortable against us,” Bill Evans said. “I think we started pressuring up a little bit and we did a good job of being aggressive and being active and maybe turning them over a little bit.”

BENGAL BITS
Utah Valley 60, Idaho State 57

Crowd: 1,121

Records: Idaho State is 0-4 overall and Utah Valley is 3-1.

Key stat: The Wolverines had 12 fewer shots than Idaho State, but Utah Valley went 22 for 44 (50 percent) from the field. ISU was 22-for-56 shooting (39 percent).

Quotable: “We’ll bounce back. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not the end of our season. It’s still real early. We’re going to come back.” — Idaho State senior Nnamdi Ezenwa, who scored 18 points and hauled in eight rebounds in the loss.

BOX SCORE
Utah Valley vs Idaho State
11/26/14 7:05 p.m. at ICCU Court at Reed Gym (Pocatello, ID)
At ICCU Court at Reed Gym (Pocatello, ID)
UTAH VALLEY 60, IDAHO STATE 57
UTAH VALLEY (3-1)
Evans,Brenden 7-12 2-5 16; Bruneel,Mitch 5-8 5-5 15; Williams,Donte 4-7 2-2
13; Davis,Marcel 3-5 0-0 7; Nelson,Zach 2-4 0-1 5; Jackson,Jaden 1-2 1-2 4;
Hamilton,Darrious 0-1 0-0 0; Robison,Eli 0-0 0-0 0; Gubler,Boston 0-0 0-0 0;
Ross,Chad 0-4 0-0 0; Carr,Alex 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-44 10-15 60.
IDAHO STATE (0-4)
EZENWA, Nnamdi 6-12 2-3 18; HANSEN, Chris 3-10 2-3 10; HALL, Evann 4-6 0-0
8; SOLARIN, Jeffrey 4-5 0-1 8; WILSON, Ben 2-5 2-3 6; BRADLEY, Marcus 2-9
1-2 5; MAGOT, Ajak 1-2 0-0 2; NAKKEN, Erik 0-1 0-0 0; LUZCANDO, Geno 0-6 0-0
0; SLAVIK, Andre 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-56 7-12 57.
Utah Valley...................   28   32  -   60
Idaho State...................   25   32  -   57
3-point goals--Utah Valley 6-14 (Williams,Donte 3-6; Nelson,Zach 1-3;
Davis,Marcel 1-1; Jackson,Jaden 1-1; Carr,Alex 0-1; Bruneel,Mitch 0-2),
Idaho State 6-20 (EZENWA, Nnamdi 4-6; HANSEN, Chris 2-7; BRADLEY, Marcus
0-1; NAKKEN, Erik 0-1; LUZCANDO, Geno 0-4; HALL, Evann 0-1). Fouled
out--Utah Valley-Davis,Marcel, Idaho State-None. Rebounds--Utah Valley 33
(Nelson,Zach 10), Idaho State 31 (SOLARIN, Jeffrey 10). Assists--Utah Valley
16 (Davis,Marcel 6), Idaho State 10 (HANSEN, Chris 4). Total fouls--Utah
Valley 19, Idaho State 18. Technical fouls--Utah Valley-None, Idaho
State-TEAM. A-1121