BY JASON ENES

jenes@journalnet.com

When Chase Grabau fouled out with 3:18 left in the second overtime Thursday night, Idaho State interim head coach Deane Martin had a choice of who he wanted to send into the game; Sherrod Baldwin or Nick Mason.

He chose Baldwin and was rewarded as the junior hit a three-pointer with the shot clock expiring and 14.1 seconds remaining in the game and ‍ISU earned a season sweep of Northern Colorado with a 99-94 double overtime win.

“When Chase fouled out, I was walking down the bench. I’m looking at Nick and thinking I probably should get him in the game right here because he is going to step up and hit a big shot for us. But to my credit and good coaching on my part, I yelled at Sherrod and told him to get into the game,” Martin joked after the game. “Sherrod is a guy we go to in those situations. He is a guy we get in the game and he is kind of a regular for us and it worked out okay.”

“I was kind of getting in a comfort zone sitting on the bench,” Baldwin said after not playing since early in the first half. “But Nick Mason kept telling me ‘Sherrod, stay ready.’ I appreciated it because in a game like this with a lot of fouls, you can get into the game. So credit to Nick for telling me to stay ready.” But getting to the second overtime may not have happened if it was not for a key play from Kenny McGowen. Leading 80-77 with 1:58 remaining in the overtime, Abner Moreira got called for a technical foul for slamming the ball down after getting beat for a layup. After the two free throws ‍ISU led by just one.

Northern Colorado went on a 5-1 run over the next 40 seconds to hold a 86-83 lead with 33 seconds left to go.

But McGowen took the ensuing inbounds pass, drove right through the Bears defense straight to the basket and got a layup and an opportunity for a three-point play.    McGowen made the free throw and tied the game at 86-86.

“Kenny is a guy who can go make a play off a bounce like he did,” Martin said. “He is the one guy who we can put the ball in his hands and get it up the floor and spread everybody out. He can go make a play for us. It was a heck of a play for him to get the ball to basket like he did and to get fouled was huge.”

“It was one of those night’s when you are just throwing it into the ocean,” Grabau said. “It was fortunate for our team that I was having one of those night’s where I was feeling it and getting good looks and guys were getting me the ball.”

After a missed three by UNC and a timeout, ‍ISU turned the ball over on an inbounds play leading to a 4-0 run to tie the game.

McGowen had a chance to win the game but his three point attempt came up short.    “The game should never got to overtime,” Martin said. “If we inbound the ball or we just call a timeout the game probably never goes to overtime. But I could not get out onto the floor quick enough to call a timeout and Abner would not call a timeout so we through the ball away.”

Grabau led the Bengals with 30 points. Morgan scored 22 and McGowen finished with 18.

The 99 points scored by ‍ISU was the most since a 102-98 loss in 2006. The 14 three pointers was not only a season high but the most made by ‍ISU in a game since 2007.    “That was a great game,” Grabau said. “Those are the games that grow up wishing you could play in. A lot of guys on our team just stepped up and made huge plays for us, it was another great team win.”    ‍

ISU (6-14, 4-4 Big Sky) faces another test Saturday night as Big Sky leader Weber State comes to Holt Arena. Tipoff between the Bengals and Wildcats is 7 p.m.

Coming into the game Martin had said that getting out and guarding the three-point line would be a key to a Bengals’ victory as the Bears came in averaging 47 percent from beyond the arc. Northern Colorado went just 9-of-23 Thursday night.

For the first time since the first meeting with Loyola Marymount ‍ISU made double digit three pointer going 14-of-27, with Grabau and Melvin Morgan each shooting 5-of-7.    ‍

ISU started the game on fire scoring the games first eight points. The lead swelled to 20-9 with just under 13 minutes left in the half.

The Bears battled all the way back to take their first lead 31-30 with 3:16 left in the half. But three-pointers by Mason and Andre Hatchett sent ‍ISU into the half with a 38-35 lead.

As hot as ‍ISU was in the first half, they were ice cold to start the second.

The Bengals scored just three points in the opening 8:30 of the second half giving UNC their biggest lead of the game at six points.

The two teams traded baskets until the final two minutes of the half.

In the final two minutes Grabau had a steal of an inbounds pass that led to his own made three pointer, 35 seconds later Grabau hit another three to give ‍ISU a 72-68 lead with 1:11 to go on regulation.

As bad as the non-conference season was for the Idaho State men’s basketball team, it has looked like a completely different squad during the first half of its Big Sky Conference schedule.

Take out a 10 minute stretch in the second half at Portland State last week when the Bengals could not answer a Vikings’ comeback and they may very well be heading into tonight’s contest with Northern Colorado on a three-game winning streak.

The team showed no effects of the loss at Portland State as it played its best game of the season in Saturday’s win over Northern Arizona. It’s not often that the Bengals are leading by 25 points and fans are leaving Holt Arena early. When interim head coach Deane Martin was told about his team being up by 25 in the second half he responded; “No kidding? We were up by that much?”

According to junior guard Melvin Morgan, the team has a new-found swagger that has not been seen before. When asked what has changed in the last two weeks, Morgan simply responded with, “confidence.”

“Coming back like we did against Sacramento State, first of all that has to be one of the biggest comebacks I have ever been a part of,” Morgan said of the 22-point rally against the Hornets. “When that happens and the coaching staff stays with you and you come back and win it, it just kind of changes your mind in the sense that we feel that we can do anything now. Not only did we need a big win and a conference win, we needed something like that game to happen to us to get us a little spark. Right now we are at a level mentally that regardless of what the overall record is, we feel like we are one of the best teams in the conference.”

That confidence has spread to the rest of the Bengals.

“We know if we play hard, if we play defense and set screens on offense, we can beat anybody and we are getting that mentality,” senior forward Abner Moreira said. “I think since the Sac. St. game we are getting pretty good.”

The Bengals appear to be peaking at the right time and they know that they hold their Big Sky tournament dreams in their hands. Continuing that dream involves beating a Northern Colorado team that sits tied with the Bengals and Eastern Washington for fifth place at 3-4.

“We have put ourselves in a position were we play in big games and that’s exactly where you want to be,” Martin said. “We are fortunate to be playing in games that actually mean something. Now we have to come out and execute the stuff that we try to do and be really good defensively. They (Northern Colorado) are going to come in here with a chip on their shoulder and be angry. The game is just as important to them as it is to us.”

“We are going to have defend, the offense will take care of itself,” Morgan said of what it will take to beat the Bears. “Coach Martin has been telling us that they are going to dump the ball hard inside early. If we defend hard and rebound and not allow them to get second chances, we can beat them.”

Another key for ‍ISU is defending the three-point line. Northern Colorado comes into the game shooting 44 percent from the beyond the arc this season and went 5-of-9 in the teams’ first meeting.

The Bears also shoot well from inside the three-point line, shooting 48 percent.

“What they are doing is taking care of the ball and taking good shots,” Martin said of the Bears. “So defensively we have to get to the shooters. It is going to be a long night for us.”    “There is really a lot to talk about,” Martin said of where the team is heading into tonight’s game. “Everybody knows what’s going on. They know we are tied, we know it’s a big game they want to come and win and we want to win too. We have addressed it a little bit and moved on. The game has to be played on the court and all we can do is take care of ourselves.”

The Bengals and Bears tip off at 7 p.m. today in Holt Arena.