RENO, Nev. – “Next year is our year.”

That’s been the sentiment for Idaho State following the last three seasons, a mantra the program has no choice but to embrace after disappointing performances dashed high expectations.

It was echoed Tuesday night after the Bengals’ season ended with a 76-68 loss to underdog Southern Utah in the first round of the Big Sky Conference tournament. Idaho State’s roster was loaded with offensive weapons, but a season-worst 3-point shooting performance, foul trouble and limited depth combined to create the perfect kryptonite.

The Bengals exceeded preseason expectations, finishing tied for sixth in the league standings after being picked to come in 10th and 11th by the league’s coaches and media, respectively. Sophomore Jared Stutzman was one of the league’s top newcomers and provided deadly accuracy from 3-point range, while redshirt sophomore Brandon Boyd was a dynamic scorer and earned the Big Sky’s top reserve player honor. Veterans Geno Luzcando and Novak Topalovic expanded their games in new roles.

Idaho State overcame deficiencies in rebounding and on defense by providing exciting offensive firepower not seen in the previous five seasons under head coach Bill Evans.

But come tournament time, the outcome was the same as the two prior years. Idaho State is the only team to lose two first-round games as the higher seed in the three years under the 12-team, neutral-site format. The men’s program has not won a conference tournament game since 2009.

“This was a tough season,” said Topalovic, who was an integral part of ISU’s inside-out offense and worked to improve passing out of frequent double-teams. “Going into it, we were picked to be 11th or 10th, and we surpassed that. But we are not striving for sixth place in the conference.”

Two seasons ago, ISU broke a 12-year streak of sub-.500 campaigns with a 16-15 record. Led by electric point guard Ethan Telfair, Idaho State was the surprise team of the league, climbing to fourth place in the league standings to earn a first-round tournament bye while Evans was named the Big Sky Coach of the Year.

Last season, ISU was expected to be viable for the first time in years. The team returned nearly all of its core from the year before, including Telfair, but never gelled. Internal power struggles and chemistry issues led to a 5-26 record – second-worst in school history – and a sense of a permanent return to normalcy at the bottom of the conference standings.

The 2017-18 season started in the same fashion as many others, with one-sided nonconference losses as Evans tried to fit his new pieces into place. As the season wore on, Stutzman, a Utah Valley transfer, emerged as a smooth shooter. Boyd took on Telfair’s old role and made highlight-reel drives to the basket through traffic. Topalovic gradually improved his rebounding totals and was ISU’s go-to post presence. Luzcando facilitated more than he scored and locked in on the opponent’s top player.

While the Bengals struggled to hold second-half leads, the team’s shooting prowess never put a deficit out of reach. ISU’s field-goal percentage of 47.5 tied the 1996-97 squad for the top mark in 21 years, while Stutzman and Balint Mocsan were two of the top 3-point shooters in the league. Stutzman hovered near the top of Division I at 52 percent. The team’s offensive prowess hit its peak in a 101-78 win at Montana State, when ISU tied a program record with 17 3-pointers.

Idaho State’s recipe for winning was simple: stay hot from the floor and don’t get crushed on the boards.

Sometimes, the simple things don’t come easily.

Idaho State won back-to-back games twice during the conference slate. Lapses on defense and shooting slumps cost the Bengals multiple games, and a handful of second-half collapses turned should-be wins into regrettable losses.

“We had some high highs and low lows,” Topalovic said Tuesday following the loss to Southern Utah. “We have a really good team here, and I just feel like if we can get this team to be steady and play our game every single night the same way, I think we can be a really good team. We just failed to do that sometimes this season. Tonight is a great example of that.”

Idaho State’s roster flaunted apparent post depth with returners Topalovic and Kyle Ingram, plus junior college transfers Jacob McCord and Blake Truman and redshirt freshman Callum Kimberley. Ingram was a cog in ISU’s offense, lauded by Evans for his passing and defensive abilities. He played 12 games before being declared out for the rest of the season due to a blood clot condition that required surgery.

Ingram’s absence severely affected ISU’s post depth, which wasn’t as strong as advertised. Evans tried to replace him with every other post on the roster, but no one filled the role well enough. Truman was tabbed as Ingram’s immediate replacement, but saw his playing time dwindle late into the season. McCord was buried on the bench and Kimberley nursed a lingering lower-leg injury.

ISU was also without sharpshooter Gary Chivichyan for the final three weeks of the season. The redshirt sophomore fell ill and didn’t travel with the team to Reno for the conference tournament.

Evans’ erratic rotation was reduced to five starters being relied upon to score nearly all of ISU’s points. If the Bengals had the offensive recipe to make a postseason run, they’d have to get to the finals on fumes.

They never had the chance. Idaho State’s depth was tested early against SUU, as Boyd, Luzcando and Topalovic all spent significant time on the bench in the first half with foul trouble. The Thunderbirds took advantage, outscoring ISU 19-5 over the final seven minutes of the frame to build a lead they never relinquished.

The Bengals’ final record was 14-16 – the program’s 15th losing season this century and 18th in the last 20 years. Evans has one season remaining on his contract after earning a three-year extension in 2014 and a two-year extension following the 2015-16 season. A strong sophomore class has Idaho State set up for a bright future.

And so the message lives on.

Maybe next year?

“This has been one of the best groups of guys I’ve coached, maybe in my career,” Evans said Tuesday. “And I’ve coached some really good guys.”

“Looking forward,” Topalovic added, “I think we’ll be really good.”

NOTE: The Journal had reported in previous articles that this season was Evans’ last under contract. That information was incorrect.