GREELEY, Colo.—Chris Kaba’s shooting benefited from a couple of fortunate bounces that helped make the difference in Northern Colorado’s 78-66 victory over Idaho State on Saturday night.
Kaba scored 17 points and connected twice from 3-point range during a key second-half run. He banked in the first 3-pointer and the second hit the rim and bounced straight up before dropping back down through the net.
“I was just taking what the defense gave me,” Kaba said. “The good thing is they went in.”
Idaho State coach Joe O’Brien, who had seen his underdog team hang with surging Northern Colorado for most of the game, said good fortune just seems to go with successful teams.
“I thought some bounces went their way,” O’Brien said. “But when you’re playing good, you get lucky and you’ve got to be lucky to be a great team. I think right now, Northern Colorado is by far the best team in the league. They’re playing with a lot of confidence. They didn’t get rattled when they were down, and I’m just proud of our effort.”
Will Figures added 16 points and Taylor Montgomery had 13 for Northern Colorado (15-3, 4-2 Big Sky), which won their 11th straight at home dating to last February. It’s the third-longest home-winning streak in the school’s history.
Amorrow Morgan’s 25 points led Idaho State (4-13, 1-4 Big Sky). Broderick Gilchrest added 15 points and Donnie Carson 12 for the Bengals, who lost their third straight and ninth in their last 11 games.
With the victory, the Bears, who have won six in a row overall, exceeded their win total from last season, when they finished 14-18.
“Our team has really started to believe in themselves and it’s not a false belief,” Northern Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “We really believe we’re good, and I think tonight’s game was indicative of that. We fell behind in the second half and we really haven’t been in that position this year. But our guys didn’t panic. We said, ‘Hey, we know we’re supposed to win this game and we know what we have to do to win it.'”
Down by two at halftime, Idaho State put together a 10-0 run to forge ahead 47-39 with 16:56 remaining.
Morgan and Gilchrest hit successive 3-pointers to start the burst. The Bengals were unable to sustain their momentum, allowing Northern Colorado to respond with a surge of their own.
After a layup by Demetrius Monroe gave the Bengals a 51-46 lead, Figures connected on a 3-pointer to start a decisive 17-3 flurry that put the Bears back in front 63-54 with 7:30 left. Kaba hit a pair from beyond the arc and Elliott Lloyd also connected for a 3-pointer to fuel the run.
The Bengals managed to pull within 67-65 on a fastbreak layup by Broderick Gilchrest with 2:06 remaining but Mike Proctor tipped in his own miss with 1:20 left and the Bears made 9 of 10 free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
