In the final two minutes of Thursday night’s game with Eastern Washington, the Idaho State men’s basketball team had four different opportunities to either tie the game or take the lead.

    But each time the Bengals failed to convert and Eastern Washington left Reed Gym with an 85-78 victory.

    ISU trailed 74-66 with 3:01 left in the game, but a 6-0 run that included four points from Andre Hatchett cut the Eagles’ lead down to two with 2:07 to go.

    Melvin Morgan stole the ball from the Eagles’ Jeffrey Forbes and had a wide open basket in front of him, but he missed a short jumper and the Eagles went right back down the floor for an easy basket.

    An Abner Moreira dunk cut the lead back to two again with 1:04 to go, but the final 41 seconds changed the game for the Bengals.

    Moreira fouled out with 41 seconds to go, McGowen fouled out with 26 seconds left, and Chase Grabau fouled out with one second left in the game.

    Eastern made 9 of 10 free throw attempts in the final 41 seconds to close out the contest.

    It was evident very early in the game that both teams were going to have not only battle each other, but also the officials.

    Not even 10 minutes into the game Grabau picked up his second foul and went to the bench.

    He did not return in the half.

    Moreira picked up his second and third fouls in the following 1:30 and McGowen left a few seconds later with two as well.

    “It hurt us rhythm wise,” Melvin Morgan said of the constant fouls being called during the game. “The rotation we are used to, the flow we are used to were disrupted by the constant guys coming in and out of the game. It hurt on both offensive and defensive matchups. But we just tried to keep playing and keep playing with energy, and that was what we did not do tonight.”

    Despite not having the big three on the floor, the Bengals played the Eagles tough and led by as many as four points twice before any of the three came back.

    But the Eagles would battle and when Parker Kelly knocked down the third of his four first half three-pointers, the momentum was shifting towards Eastern Washington.

    Kelly’s fourth three-pointer gave the Eagles a 38-36 lead.

    A Tremayne Johnson dunk extended the lead to four before Eagles head coach Jim Hayford’s frustrations with the officiating boiled over.

    Hayford was riding the officials most of the half and with 1:22 left he was given a technical foul. McGowen made both of the technical free throws and one of two of his original free throws to cut the lead to 40-39.

    But a defensive lapse in the final seconds left Jeffrey Forbes wide open under the basket for a layup to send the Eagles into the locker room with a 42-39 lead.

    “We obviously had some foul trouble in situations early, but we stayed in it,” ISU interim head coach Deane Martin said. “We stayed in it at halftime to give ourselves a chance and we gave ourselves a chance in the second half and I was proud of our guys for that.”

    ISU picked up the defensive pressure to start the second half, allowing the Eagles just one three-pointer after allowing nine in the first period.

    Taking away the perimeter from the Eagles was not enough because Eastern used ISU’s foul trouble to its advantage.

    “They were getting into the paint for a reason,” Martin said. “They knew Abner had three fouls and they wanted to attack. You have to give them credit. They are a talented team.”

    Eastern Washington (13-15, 7-7 Big Sky) got layups on its first four second half possessions to build the lead back up to 50-43.

    ISU battled back, cutting the lead down to one point twice, but every time the Bengals got close Eastern’s Cliff Colimon had an answer.

    Colimon scored a game-high 21 points, 12 coming in the second half.

    Both teams had four players score in double figures.

    Along with Colimon, Parker added 17 points, Laron Griffin had 15 and Forbes added 13 for the Eagles.

    Morgan led ISU with 18, Hatchett finished with 17 and nine rebounds, McGowen had 12 points and Moreira 10.

    ISU shot 53 percent from the field in the game compared to 48 percent for EWU.

    There were 55 combined fouls called.

    ISU’s road to hosting a playoff game gets a lot tougher with the loss. The Bengals (9-18, 7-7) host Sacramento State on Saturday in the season’s final home game and then must face Eastern again on Monday in Cheney.

    If the Bengals want to host a first round playoff game they need to win both.

    “We are not finishing sixth,” Morgan said. “We are going to win the games and finish third or fourth and get a home game.”

    The Bengals and Hornets tip off senior night at 7 p.m. Saturday in Reed Gym.