krobinett@journalnet.com

The way Lucas Steijn and Donnie Carson performed during Idaho State's 75-70 victory over Eastern Washington on Saturday at Holt Arena, they deserved a Valentine's Day gift.

For Steijn, the present would have to be a personalized candy heart that reads: Hello.

For Carson, the insignia would be: Welcome back.

Through the course of the season, each has underperformed and generally been overlooked in Idaho State's playing rotation. But against the Eagles, they were the difference in the game.

Steijn stayed on the court for a season-high 35 minutes and took over for the Bengals inside. He got open almost at will, scored 15 points, snared four rebounds and rounded out one of his best games at Idaho State by blocking three shots.

Through it all, the senior center had a smile on his face and all kinds of energy in his fist pumps.

"I was emotional out there celebrating, being happy," he said. "It's a fun game, and when things are going well, you celebrate."

Carson was a bit more subdued throughout the game, mostly because he felt his 18-point, five-rebound explosion was way too long in the making, but he did say he hadn't felt that good following a game since this time last year when he was one of Idaho State's go-to players throughout the Big Sky schedule.

"It took a little bit longer than I would have liked," he said. "But I feel like I'm pretty much back."

If he is, and Steijn continues to play with the energy he showed against the Eagles, that means good things for the Bengals.

With Saturday's win, Idaho State improved to 9-17 overall and 6-6 in conference play, and is now three games up on seventh-place Eastern Washington (11-15, 5-9) in the loss column. Considering only the league's top six teams make the Big Sky tournament, that's not a bad spot to be.

Especially with four games remaining, and a top four league finish still well within reach.

Combined with Idaho State's Thursday win over Portland State, Steijn believes the Bengals are ready to make a late-season run.

"This is the right time for everything to be going well, and everything is going well," he said. "It's time to start peaking here, and I think we are. We've just played two really good games."

More importantly, the Bengals seem to have finally discovered an effective offense.

For the third straight game, Idaho State hit the 70-point mark, and for the second straight game ,it dished out 14 assists. Funny how passing the ball leads to more points than two players trying to carry the load.

"I think we're a little harder to guard now with the things we've done to our offense," Idaho State coach Joe O'Brien said. "We're scoring 75 points a game now, and last week we were struggling to score 65. We're sharing the wealth."

On Saturday, Amorrow Morgan did most of the sharing. The junior guard nearly recorded a triple-double by scoring 19 points, grabbing seven rebounds and picking up eight assists.

Just about all of them seemed to go to Steijn, but he also helped Chron Tatum score 10 points and Matt Stucki add eight.

O'Brien will take that in every game left on the schedule.

What he won't accept is a slow start and a poor finish, like Idaho State experienced against Eastern Washington.

Early on, Idaho State fell behind 18-10 and needed a 19-6 run highlighted by two jumpers and a layup from Carson to pull ahead. And it needed a miracle half-court heave from Morgan with one-tenth of a second remaining on the clock to go into halftime up 39-30.

But with that momentum, and a steady dose of points from Steijn and Carson in the second half, Idaho State took a 70-59 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

A flurry of Eastern Washington jumpers combined with a load of missed free throws by Idaho State allowed the score to become close at the end.

But O'Brien doesn't mind nit-picking over narrow victories.

With Steijn and Carson playing well, he knows he's not going to have to talk about many losses.

"It was great to have them playing that well," he said. "I just hope we can keep these guys playing at that level."