POCATELLO - When it was over, there was no wild celebration.

There was no demoralizing body language or woe-is-me talk, either.

For the first time all season, the Idaho State men's basketball team walked off the court well within the range of normal human emotions.

That's because, for the first time all season, the Bengals won a game by a comfortable margin. It wasn't easy, and it wasn't a blowout victory, but Idaho State's 77-67 win over Montana on Thursday at Holt Arena felt like a full-body massage to everyone on the roster.

"It was nice to not be involved in a close game," junior guard Austin Kilpatrick said. "We weren't having to foul anyone at the end or trying to come back. It was good. It was fun."

Fun is not a word Idaho State players have used lately. Following two straight road losses in conference play, some acted as if the season was already lost, and there were some major concerns out there.

Junior guard Amorrow Morgan was so worried that he spent most of his week promising anyone who would listen that the Bengals would start playing better.

"Things are going to change," he said. "I promise you that."

To that end, he met individually with his teammates and his coaches to make sure that they wanted to rebound from a string of losses as badly as he did.

Judging by Thursday's win, which moved the Bengals to 5-13 overall and 2-2 in the Big Sky, his extra efforts paid off. But until now, none of that extra work could be classified as fun.

Idaho State coach Joe O'Brien was the first to thank Morgan for his efforts.

"He made his promise, and he's been backing it up in practice everyday," O'Brien said. "We've told him he's the one guy who can bring it everyday. If he does that, he has the team's respect. He's a leader right now."

On and off the court.

After leading the Bengals with his words all week, he led them in the scoring department against the Grizzlies.

Morgan had one of his best games of the year, scoring a game-high 23 points, draining 9-of-10 free throws and dishing out five assists compared to a season-low one turnover. His impact was everywhere, especially late in the second half when he seemed to make an "and-one" layup every time he touched the ball.

"Amorrow has come through all season long," said senior guard Matt Stucki, who scored 17 points. "Once again, he did it for us tonight."

The difference between Thursday and most nights, though, was that everyone else in the Bengals offense contributed. All but one of the nine ISU players who got into the game scored, and hardly anyone took bad shots.

Kilpatrick led all other Bengals scorers with 10 points, and Deividas Busma, Lucas Steijn and Demetrius Monroe all added at least six points.

Compared to the standard 60-point games Idaho State has produced all season, it seemed like a totally different offense.

Its 77 points was a season high, and its astounding 70 percent shooting mark in the second half was, too. It finished the game hitting 59 percent of its shots.

The Bengals also held a lead in this game longer than they had in their past 10 combined.

"Everything was clicking tonight," Stucki said.

That much was noticeable early on. Idaho State looked more focused than it had in months and jumped out to a 17-12 lead. Kilpatrick made an early 3-pointer to get his confidence going, and almost everyone on the team scored during that run.

Montana (9-8, 3-2) fought back to within two points a few times in the next few minutes, but Morgan scored six straight points just before halftime to put Idaho State up 33-26 at the break.

Then things got interesting for a while. Montana, behind junior guard Anthony Johnson, surged ahead to take a 48-45 lead with 10:44 remaining.

Johnson held the ball on every Montana possession and scored most of his 20 points during that stretch.

In the past, Idaho State has not done well after giving up a lead. But on this day, they were back in front less than 1:30 later when Demetrius Monroe lofted in a bucket to make the score 49-48.

That spurt, along with O'Brien switching to a full-court defense, ignited a 23-7 run that put Idaho State up 68-55 and effectively ended the game.

From there, the Bengals enjoyed running clock and being the recipients of fouls.

"We talked about it at halftime and said they would probably make a run," Morgan said. "If they did, we said not to worry about it, keep pushing and take it up a few notches. That's what we did. Then we went into the press and that had them rattled. We went steal, steal, basket, basket and pulled away."

It was a welcome change.