OGDEN -- From his spot on the Weber State bench, Wildcats coach Randy Rahe saw his team become consistently inconsistent through stretches of the second half Thursday night in its Big Sky Conference opener against Idaho State.
Although few would question their superiority over the Bengals coming in, the Wildcats needed to survive a few anxious minutes before nabbing a 78-64 victory at the Dee Events Center.
"I thought those kids came out and fought really, really hard," Rahe said of struggling Bengals. "I thought they played really hard. They did some things to disrupt our team a little bit. They did a nice job, but I felt, too, that we were really inconsistent tonight."
Damian Lillard scored 26 points on 8-for-13 shooting and teammate Scott Bamforth added 21 -- including three 3-pointers and a 6-for-6 effort at the free throw line -- to pace the Wildcats (9-3 overall, 1-0 Big Sky).
Reserve forward Byron Fulton added 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting.
Rahe said he felt his players went through stretches in which they looked great, only to get sideways a few minutes later. While crediting the Bengals (2-10, 0-1) with a good effort, he said the Wildcats weren't as sharp as he expected.
"I thought our mindset was very loose tonight," he said. "It wasn't locked in like it needs to be. This is conference, you've got to be locked in. It doesn't matter who you're playing or where you're playing, you've got to be locked in."
After taking a 37-23 lead into halftime, the Wildcats struggled to deal with ISU's full-court press in the second half.
Led by forward Chase Grabau, who scored 26 of his game-high 31 after halftime, the Bengals played the Wildcats to a 41-41 tie in the second half.
Grabau was the only ISU player who scored in double digits.
ISU is in the midst of a tumultuous season, having now dropped five in a row and and seven of its last eight. On Dec. 19, coach Joe O'Brien announced his immediate resignation, moving assist Deane Martin into the top spot.
With little more than pride to play for, the Bengals went into attack mode shortly after halftime, carving what was a 21-point lead down to 12 with 10:59 left.
But the Wildcats were strong enough to fight back with a 9-2 run.
"They picked up the pressure and they started to really get after us full court with the pressure," Lillard said. "We kind of got loose. We've got to give credit to them, they played hard and they sped us up and forced us to turn the ball over and got themselves back into the game a little bit."
As a direct result of ISU's pressure tactics, the Wildcats had 10 of their 14 turnovers in the second half.
"I thought we were very sporadic," said Rahe. "I thought we had some good moments. I thought we had a lot of poor moments. We turned it over 14 times. We've been averaging six or seven turnovers the last five, six or seven games, so it kind of tells you our mindset wasn't locked in to play a full 40 minutes."
Neither the Wildcats nor the Bengals looked particularly sharp to open the game as the two teams combined to shoot 2-for-12 from the field over the first three minutes.
ISU owned a brief 11-9 lead at the 12:48 mark, but Lillard responded to start a 9-2 run and the Wildcats never again trailed.
Thursday's win was Weber State's 900th win as an NCAA Division I school.
"You never apologize for a win, any time," said Lillard. "Getting a win under our belt in conference, going into the next game, I think it just gives us momentum and something to look forward to."
The Wildcats will play host to Sacramento State Saturday afternoon beginning at 2 p.m.
* NORTHERN ARIZONA 73, SACRAMENTO STATE 64: At Flagstaff, Ariz., James Douglas tied a career high with 22 points and Northern Arizona won its 14th straight game over Sacramento State.
Gabe Rogers scored a season-high 17 points and Durrell Norman added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Lumberjacks (5-8), who have won three of four since 70-year-old interim coach Dave Brown assumed the reins.
Konner Veteto led Sacramento State (5-7) with 17 points.
Comments