Recap: @UNCO_MBB Survives Free-Throw Ladened Game to Beat ISU

Thursday, February 8

Pocatello, Idaho

7 pm

University of Northern Colorado

16-9, 7-5

Idaho State University

10-12, 5-6

Northern Colorado

Idaho State

2/8/2018 11:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Kurt Maddox, UNCBears.com

Pocatello, Idaho—The 58 total fouls slowed the game down but Northern Colorado found their flow late to make the comeback win, 85-82. UNC (16-9, 7-5) used hot shooting from the field to sweep the season series over Idaho State (10-12, 5-6).

How It Happened
UNC came out hot and jumped out 10 to four lead early. The spark came from down as Tanner Morgan had eight of the Bears first 14 points of the game. When the Bears got to a 17-13 lead, Northern Colorado could not buy a bucket and went on a seven-minute drought.

During the dry spell, Idaho State proceeded to score the next 12 points of the game and their biggest lead of the half was 10 points at 40-30 but Andre Spight scored the last points of the half and the first field goal for the Bears in over three minutes. Bengals led at halftime 40-32 with Brandon Boyd and Morgan tied for high scorer as each put in 10 points.

The second half was played in chunks and short segments due to all the fouls called. The Bears would get within four or five points but the Bengals would surge back. Idaho State would have a 69-61 lead with just over seven minutes to go.

Hold on a second…they are shooting more free throws.

Andre Spight scored four straight and the Bears were within four points and naturally, fouls were called so ISU built their lead back to seven. The Bengals were up 72-65 with 5:33 remaining.
Wait…I heard another whistle and nope that was just in my head.

Northern Colorado scored six-in-a-row and only trailed by one and with two free throws, the Bengals were leading by three. Dre cured that problem with a 3 and the game was tied. UNC held ISU to no field goals for almost seven minutes and the 17-2 run which started at 5:17 to go would give the lead to the Bears for good but ISU had a last-ditch effort but Roberto Vercellino tip the ball away to secure the win for the Bears. Davis was the high man for UNC with 24 points.

Game Changer
The team knew Andre Spight was going to be double teamed and closely guarded for the whole game. Jordan Davis took it upon himself to carry the load and shot 10-15 from the field to score 24 in the game. The 24 is four off his season-high of 28. Davis also collected four rebounds and had two assists.

Key Stat
The Bears went away from their usually 3-point barrage and threw the ball down low to score the most in the paint during the Big Sky season. UNC outscored ISU 48-36 in the paint.

What They Said
Head Coach Jeff Linder
Opening Statement
"It was a tough game to get a flow, especially in the second half when you look at the number of free throws shot in the second half. There were 58 free throws shot alone in the second half. I think we were down nine toward the nine or 10-minute mark and for us to hold them without a field goal for seven minutes, that was huge and that's a mark of us of trying to take that next step from being a good team to being a really good team. For our guys to really buckle down when it mattered, I am proud of those guys and especially Robbie (Roberto Vercellino) to get that block at the end because that was the play of the game right there. Anthony Johnson gave us some good minutes and did a good job guarding Stutzman there late. It wasn't easy as the team Coach Evans has is so different from what they had last year. They pay well together and do the right things. You have to beat them. Our team came in here and gave a great performance on the road."

On the team's defensive effort
"They really stuck together. We always talk about how are we going to respond? We never put our head down and the team all stayed together. We just really had a good collective spirit. I think this is something that is really going to carry us forward to Saturday. To go on the road and beat a team like this and miss 15 free throws, our guys didn't waiver and there was no victim about the last play. They just worried about the next play and I think ultimately in the end that is what won us the game."

Notable Stats

Four players scored in double figures tonight and Jonah Radebaugh was a basket away from joining them
ISU turned over the ball 14 times and UNC scored 18 points off those mishaps. On the flip side, the Bears gave the ball away 10 times but the Bengals could only score eight points from those mistakes.
Northern Colorado had its best shooting performance of the season by shooting 57% tonight. UNC hit 30 of the 53 shots they took in the game.
With Davis' 23 points, JD moves into ninth all-time in UNC history for points. Davis now has 1,295 points in his career and trails John McFarland (1994-97) for eighth place by 31 points.

What's Next
Northern Colorado will now head down to Weber State to avenge their loss in Greeley to the Wildcats. The game is Saturday and set to tip off at 7 pm MT.
The next time Northern Colorado will be home will be the last two regular-season games at Bank for Colorado Arena for the team. Northern Arizona comes to town February 15 at 7 pm brought to you by Ehrlich Toyota and Chick-Fil-A senior night will be the 17^th against Southern Utah as UNC will recognize Andre Spight, Tanner Morgan, Anthony Johnson and Tyler Loose for all they have done for the Northern Colorado men's basketball team.