ISU puts up fight against BYU

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POCATELLO -- For a while there, Holt Arena was rocking.

The season-high 4,374 fans on hand were louder than ever, the Idaho State men's basketball team came out hot shooting the ball and, during the game's first media timeout, the Bengals led heavily favored BYU by four points.

At that moment, things couldn't have been any better for the hometown fans.

But then the Cougars started running, and that pretty much doomed the Bengals. Once BYU found its offensive rhythm, Idaho State never threatened again and ended up losing 85-65 on Saturday.

"The first four minutes, we came out very aggressive and played very well," Idaho State coach Joe O'Brien said. "But we had a lull there, and while we were missing, they were running. That's what they do best. They kick your butt in transition."

Whether it was after a turnover, a missed shot or a made shot, the Cougars moved the ball up court at a frantic pace.

Idaho State (1-4) prepared for that in practices all week, but the Bengals still weren't in a position to consistently challenge the Cougars in transition. BYU (6-0) scored 20 fast-break points, 41 points in the paint and forced Idaho State to play catch-up all night.

After falling behind 12-6 early, BYU blitzed Idaho State with a 16-2 run and led by double digits throughout the second half. All because of its transition game.

"Even when we made a basket, they were fast-breaking it," ISU senior guard Matt Stucki said. "We knew what they were going to do, but a lot of times we weren't executing our game plan. That led to some easy baskets for them."

O'Brien wasn't upset with his players for failing in that area, though.

During Idaho State's previous four games, it had seen nothing close to that kind of offense. Nor the type of quality personnel BYU put on the floor to run it.

The Cougars had four players score more than 15 points -- with Jonathan Tavernari leading the way with 23 -- and at least five had two assists.

"That was the most skilled team we've played in five games this year," O'Brien said.

So even though it was Idaho State's first loss of the season that didn't come in overtime, the Bengals were in no way distraught by the loss.

O'Brien said he was happy to see his team play hard for a full 40 minutes and never back down against the Cougars' physical play.

Stucki and junior guard Donnie Carson, who scored 19 points and seven points, respectively, echoed that statement and said that aside from poor free-throw shooting and 13 turnovers, the Bengals learned a lot from this defeat.

Especially how to keep a cool head.

Midway through the second half, Carson and Tavernari exchanged shoves after a foul was called on Amorrow Morgan, and coaches and players from both teams ended up at halfcourt to protest.

Shortly after, BYU's Lee Cummard tried to take the ball away from Lucas Steijn during a play stoppage, and that led to some heated words. And after that, O'Brien yelled at a BYU assistant coach during a timeout.

No one was ejected for any of the encounters, but Cummard and O'Brien only briefly took part in postgame handshakes before fleeing the court to avoid further confrontations.

It was a strange ending to a game that had long been decided, but it sure kept the crowd interested. Fans booed loudly every time Cummard touched the ball late in the game, and BYU players and coaches said they played in front of an impressive road crowd.

"That was a great atmosphere out there," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "It had the feel of a tough league game."

Not bad considering a good portion of the crowd was made up of BYU fans.

O'Brien said he hoped Idaho State's effort was enough to win over the local fans who were watching the Bengals for the first time and only came out to watch BYU.

That would make sustaining an early lead quite a bit easier as the season goes on and the opponents aren't as strong.

"Hopefully we can get a crowd like that in the future," Carson said. "Maybe even in the conference season. That would mean a lot to us."

By Kellis Robinett

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