Greeley (Colo.) Tribune
GREELEY, Colo - It is never easy for the Northern Colorado men's basketball team, but Saturday, it wouldn't let a key game slip away.
UNC guard Devon Beitzel scored a game-high 19 points, and the Bears hit some big free throws down the stretch to pull off a 79-73 Big Sky Conference victory against Idaho State at the Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion.
It was a big win for Northern Colorado (6-6 Big Sky, 10-15 overall), which came into the game in fifth place in the conference standings and only percentage points ahead of the Bengals (4-6, 7-17) for the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament.
"This is definitely a big one," Beitzel said. "We talk about taking it game-by-game, but this one, especially with them right behind us, we knew we had to get this one."
The Bears earned it with defensive stops down the stretch from Robert Palacios and Mike Proctor, and they made their free throws. Northern Colorado finished 22-of-28 from the line.
Northern Colorado needed everything it could get down the stretch against the short-handed Bengals. They were without their leading rebounder Demetrius Monroe and leading scorer Amorrow Morgan.
Morgan found out that his father, who is battling cancer, went into cardiac arrest Friday morning and was in the hospital on a ventilator in the intensive care unit.
"He was our leading scorer, and he has been our point guard most of the year," Idaho State coach Joe O'Brien said. "He does a lot of different things that don't show up on the stat sheet. So to lose him and Demetrius, we were a little short-handed."
Even without having Morgan to contend with, Northern Colorado held a slim 75-73 lead with 24 seconds left. Beitzel was fouled on the Bears' next possession and hit two free throws to push the lead to 77-73 with 19 seconds left.
Idaho State's Sherrod Baldwin missed a jumper with 10 seconds left, and UNC forward Mike Proctor came up with one of his eight rebounds and was fouled. He sealed the game with 1-of-2 free throws.
"We overcame tonight," UNC coach Tad Boyle said. "We overcame turnovers (18) and a hot-shooting Idaho State team. "They were without their leading scorer tonight, and l didn't even tell our team that before the game because I didn't even want any letdown on our team."
Northern Colorado led 41-30 at halftime behind Chris Kaba, who scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field in seven minutes. He also nailed two 3-pointers, one of which gave Northern Colorado its biggest lead at 39-26 with 2:12 left in the half.
Idaho State had an 18-13 lead with 12 minutes left in the half, but the Bears unit of Palacios, John Pena, Taylor Montgomery, Yahosh Bonner and Neal Kingman helped slow down the Bengals offensive momentum with their defense and help swing the game back in Northern Colorado's favor.