The Idaho State men’s basketball team has had its fair share of last-second victories.

    For the second time in the last 11 days, the Bengals were defeated in the final seconds when Sacramento State’s Joe Eberhard hit a three pointer with 1.3 seconds remaining to give the Hornets a 70-67 win spoiling senior night for Chase Grabau, Kenny McGowen and Abner Moreira Saturday night in Reed Gym.

    Trailing 67-65 with 28 seconds remaining, ISU head interim head coach Deane Martin told his team to hold the ball for one shot.

    For 17 seconds, ISU moved the ball around looking for the open man and the best shot they could get.

    Unfortunately, when Melvin Morgan’s jumper from the top of the key went through the net there were still eight second left in the game, plenty of time for the Hornets to get a good shot.

    And they did.

    “You have to give them credit,” Martin said. “They made a good shot tonight. When we were at Pacific they made a good shot too. You have to give those teams credit. The good thing is we give ourselves a chance. Unfortunately tonight we didn’t play very well. You have to give Sacramento State credit because they took advantage of everything.”

    “There was almost 10 seconds left on the clock that was way to much time and I knew the game was not over yet,” McGowen said. “We just kind of got bottled up and the point guard loose and we let him get to far and let him get penetration and he kicked the ball out to the open man.”

    Eberhard’s shot capped off a six-minute stretch that saw the Hornets go on a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the ball game at 59-57 with 4:42 remaining.

    That stretched to six a minute later before McGowen scored five straight points including a deep three-pointer to cut the deficit to 63-62.

    “We had no energy at all,” McGowen said. “They did the things they were supposed to do and kept fighting, we knew they were going to do that. They made plays and we didn’t.”

    McGowen carried the Bengals in the game’s opening eight minutes, scoring eight of the Bengals first 10 points. Combine that with a 9-2 run midway through the half and the Bengals had a 23-11 with 7:43 left before halftime.

    The lead hovered in double digits until the final 1:44 when Sacramento State went on a 6-0 run to go into the locker room down 33-27.

    Momentum continued to swing the Hornets way to start the second half as just 55 seconds into the half a three pointer and three point play tied the game at 33-33.

    The difference in the game for the Bengals was the inability to stop baskets from being scored in the paint.

    ISU got its fair share of layups and dunks, but the Hornets made a living in the low post scoring 42 of their 70 points in the paint. ISU managed just 18.

    “In the second half it was just ridiculous,” Martin said of the Bengals post defense. “We addressed at halftime and we addressed it at three timeouts in the second half. They were throwing the ball wherever they wanted to and we just stood there.”

    ISU also did not get a single point from the bench. The Hornets bench outscored ISU 21-0, 15 of those points came from senior guard Heath Hoffman.

    Just three players came off the bench for ISU, only one, Sherrod Baldwin, saw significant minutes. He went 0-for-3 from the field.

    “Our production off the bench has got to get better,” Martin said. “When you get guys in the game we have to get confidence from them to come in and play and we are not getting that from them and it has been a struggle for us.”

    McGowen led the Bengals with 30 points in his final home game. For the second consecutive game, sophomore Andre Hatchett was the Bengal’s leading scorer. Saturday night he scored 13 points and pulled down five rebounds.

    Moreira finished with nine points and nine rebounds and Grabau added 10 rebounds.

    Eberhard led the Hornets (10-18, 5-11 Big Sky) with 16 points. Jackson Carbajal added 13 and Dickson 10 points.

    The loss erased any chance of ISU hosting a Big Sky Tournament game as the Bengals are locked into the fifth spot.

    ISU (9-19, 7-8) will finish its regular season Tuesday at Eastern Washington, then head back to Cheney Saturday for the first round of the conference tournament.

    The Bengals and Eagles tip-off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.