Lamar sports information

POCATELLO, Idaho – The Lamar men’s basketball team never led Tuesday night, dropping a 77-60 decision at Idaho State.

The loss stopped the Cardinals’ second attempt at a three-game win streak on the young season.

“Idaho State came out ready to play tonight,” said LU head coach Tic Price. “We knew we would get this kind of effort against them. They’ve been on the road for a long time and looked like a team that was excited to be at home.

“We didn’t come out with any energy. We were a little dead-legged to start tonight and Idaho State took advantage of it. I think we were getting frustrated with some of the calls we felt didn’t go our way and we allowed that to effect the next play. We also didn’t force them into any mistakes. We allowed Idaho State to do to us what we normally do to opponents.”

LU (4-2) was unable to replicate its shooting performance from its previous game being held to a 19-of-62 (.306) effort by the Bengals. The Red and White knocked down seven three-pointers but attempted 28 shots (.250) from beyond the arc.

The Cardinals were impressive on the glass recording their largest rebound margin of the season (plus-19), 47-28, including 17 offensive boards. Unfortunately, the Cardinals could only convert that into a 10-3 advantage in second-chance points.

The Bengals (1-6) finished the night shooting nearly 48 percent from the field, including an 8-of-18 (.444) performance from beyond the three-point arc. ISU finished the night with four players in double-figures led by 18 points from Robert Jones.

LU’s defense did a good job of neutralizing Ethan Telfair’s effect on the game. He entered the night averaging better than 21 points per game but was held to nine points on 3-of-7 (.429) shooting Tuesday.

“We did a good job of making sure we always had a man in Ethan’s face,” said Price. “I think we frustrated him a little bit and then got him in early foul trouble. We did a good job there but we allowed (Robert) Jones to go off for 18 points. You just can’t allow that to happen.”

The Cardinals were led by junior Colton Weisbrod’s second-straight double-double 14 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Sophomore Nick Garth was the only other Cardinal in double figures. He finished with 12 points, but was just 2-of-9 from the field. Garth did the majority of his damage from the free throw line, where he was 6-of-7.

The Cardinals return to action Friday when they travel to the University of San Francisco to take on the Dons. The game is slated to tip off at 9 p.m. at War Memorial Gym.

“We will go back to the drawing board before playing USF,” said Price. “We have some problems we need to fix but they are correctable. The thing I’m most disappointed in tonight is we lost the hustle areas. We got beat on effort.”