Jan. 3, 2008

Final Stats

GREELEY, Colo. - The University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team could not stop a hot-handed Idaho State at Butler-Hancock Thursday evening, falling 76-65 to the Bengals. With the loss, the Bears move to 6-8 on the year and 1-2 in Big Sky play, while the Bengals improve to 4-10 overall and 1-0 in league action.

Junior forward Jabril Banks was the lone Bear in double figures, scoring 16, including 10-of-12 from the free throw line. He also led the team with eight rebounds and had two steals. Senior guard Thanasi Panagiotakopoulos scored nine points, all in the first half and senior guard Terry Anderson came off the bench to record four steals to lead the squad.

Idaho State had five players score in double figures with Logan Kinghorn and Amorrow Morgan scoring 13 each and Matt Stucki, Donnie Carson and Demetrius Monroe each chipped in 10. Monroe also led the Bengals with eight rebounds, while Stucki had five assists.

"It was a disappointing defensive effort for us tonight," said head coach Tad Boyle. "I'm amazed we only lost by 11 and the reason for that is we got to the free throw line in the second half. We also took care of the ball in the second half, with only three turnovers. I thought this was a lot like the Northern Arizona game (on Sunday), where they went on a scoring streak in the last five minutes of the first half and the first five of the second half. That's too big of a swing for a team to come back from."

Idaho State indeed went on a scoring spree, hitting its first 10 shots of the second half and had the largest lead of the game at 19, 57-38 at the 13:54 mark after Stucki hit a jumper. The Bengals shot .706 from the field in the second stanza (12-17) and shot .600 for the game, including .500 from beyond the arc and .692 from the free throw line. They also outrebounded the Bears 31-30.

Northern Colorado shot just .346 from the field for the game, and .280 in the second half (7-25). They also hit .316 from the three-point line and were just 1-of-7 in the second half (.143). The Bears did hit .742 from the charity stripe and hit 18-of-25 from there after the break.

The Bears now turn their attention towards Weber State for the Altitude TV Sunday Game of the Week at 2:05 p.m. in Butler-Hancock. The Wildcats are 5-7 on the season and this will be their Big Sky Conference opener.