Recap:@UNCO_MBB Bounce Back with Double-Digit Win

Saturday, January 13

Greeley, Colo.

2pm

University of Northern Colorado

12-7, 3-3

Idaho State University

8-8, 3-2

Idaho State

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

1/13/2018 7:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Coach Linder Presser Jalen Sanders and Andre Spight Presser

Andre Spight has a career day in the victory while Anthony Johnson records first ever double-double

By: Kurt Maddox, UNCBears.com

Greeley, Colo.—The Northern Colorado men needed a win after a hard three-game stretch and Andre Spight lead the way for the Bears by scoring 30. UNC (12-7, 3-3) hands Idaho State (8-8, 3-2) its second-straight loss this season and in the series between the two teams, 94-80.

How It Happened
Idaho State came out firing and jumped to an early 8-3 lead. UNC held the Bengals scoreless for the next seven minutes of game time while scoring 20 of their own, mostly by 3s as Anthony Johnson, Andre Spight, Chaz Glotta and Jonah Radebaugh all had triples in that time span.

Northern Colorado's largest lead was 15 and from the 10-minute mark on it was back and forth as ISU narrowed the gap to as close as four points. Spight went into the locker room with a game-high 13 points as UNC held the lead at halftime 37-31.

UNC was without its second-leading scorer as Jordan Davis did not play in the second half due to an injury. Idaho State took advantage and stayed in the game, keeping the deficit to around five for most of the half. Spight took it upon himself to lead this team down the stretch. On two straight possessions, the Arizona State transfer made the Bengals look silly with a killer crossover and then he played hide and go seek with the ball by twirling it around his back on the drive for the bucket.

Those two spectacular plays helped the Bears balloon their lead back up to 12 with 8:45 to go and the two teams just traded baskets for the rest of the game. UNC pulled off the win on the back of Spight and Anthony Johnson. Spight finished with 30 points and Johnson put his first-ever double-double in the books with 14 points and 10 boards.

Game Changer
Andre Spight notched himself into the UNC record books with his effort in the game. Dre now sits tied for ninth all-time for single-game points with 30. Spight is tied with teammates Jordan Davis (vs North Dakota, 2/25/17) Anthony Johnson (vs Portland State, 2/27/16) and former Bears DJ Miles (vs Idaho, 2/9/17) and Tevin Svihovec (at Idaho State, 1/26/12) with 30 points in a game. Spight did this on 12-of-19 shooting and hitting all five of his free throw attempts.

Key Stat
The Bears average 67.0 percent from the charity stripe but hit 17 of their 19 attempts from the foul line. The 89.0 percent shooting in the game is the second-highest of the season as they went seven for seven against Southern Mississippi in the Sanford Pentagon Showcase.

In Their Words
Head Coach Jeff Linder
Opening Statement
"I am really proud of our guys' ability to bounce back. Our backs were against the wall to have lost three games in a row and the way we lost those games especially the second half of the Weber game put a sour taste in every body's mouth. We challenged these guys yesterday to take the next step especially when you are trying to compete against the better teams and we are right there. We are good enough to beat them but at the same time, we are good enough to get beat. I thought our guys really stepped up with the quick turnaround and an even quicker turnaround for Idaho State. Coach (Bill) Evans does a great job with his team. They went on the road and beat Weber State, first game out. They came in here 3-1 in the conference and we did a good job in a short period of time in getting these guys ready to go. I am proud of Anthony Johnson with his dad in town. His dad surprised him on Thursday. For Ant to play the way that he did and more so making shots and taking the right shots. We are a really good team when we have paint touches. When the ball hits the paint before we shoot a three, we did a really good job even in the first half when we shot 33%, we got the right shots. I told them at halftime 'If we keep doing that, it will change in the second half.' They are hard to go against because sometimes you are going to see man and sometimes you are going to see zone. I thought our guys had the right mindset and came out and showed a lot of fight. If we do that, we are as good as anybody in the league."

On Dre's game today
"He (Andre Spight) as talented as there is in terms of with the ball in his hand. He is really herky-jerky and keeps you off balance. With JD going down, the thing about Dre is if you put him into a ball screen situation, you put the defense in a bind. I thought Dre did a really good job with assists…he only had three assists but really he had 10 or 11 assists and they were kind of the hockey assist. He forced the defense to put two on the ball and we were able to attack it off the bounce into that next ball screen. When he is dialed in, there is not a better guard in the Big Sky."

Freshman Jalen Sanders
On the overall effort
"I think last game our second half wasn't as great as the first half. That was a point of emphasis at halftime. Coach just wanted us to play together and play smarter and I think we did both of those today."

Redshirt Senior Guard Andre Spight
On his big game today
"I only shot two 3's in the game and I usually shoot more than that and more fall than that. I wouldn't say that's my best. I had a focused approach all day. I just didn't use a lot of wasted dribbles. I tried to beat my guy downhill and look for my teammates as well."

Notable Stats

Both teams committed 13 turnovers in the game but the Bears were able to capitalize more on ISU mistakes. UNC scored 22 points while ISU only netted 15 points off the other teams' mistakes.
Northern Colorado also made the best of their second chances in the game. They pulled down 11 offensive boards when they usually average nine. They turned those 11 o-boards into 11 points and held the Bengals to six second-chance opportunities.
Matej Drgon set season and career-highs in rebounds (3), field goals attempted (8), 3-pointers made (2), 3-pointers attempted (8), blocks (1), and minutes (17).

What's Next
The homestand concludes on the 20th with the Energy Proud Showdown as North Dakota makes its final trip to Greeley as a member of the Big Sky. Tickets are available at UNCBears.com, at the UNCBox Office M-F from 10 am-5pm, at 970.351.1679 during business hours.

UNC will then head back out on the road as they head up to Moscow, Idaho to play the Vandals January 25th and follow that up with a trip to Cheney, Washington to face the Eastern Washington Eagles January 27th.