Joe O'Brien told him not to shoot, but on a night like this one, Tom Taylor could not obey his coach's command.

Every other healthy player on Idaho State's roster had already scored at least two points in the Bengals' 74-39 annihilation of Sacramento State on Thursday at Reed Gym, and if he wanted to join them on the final stat sheet, he had to make something happen.

So on Idaho State's final possession of the game, with the home crowd urging him on, he took a pass in the lane from Felix Caspari, squared his shoulders and sent the ball flying toward the net. It bounced around for a while on the rim, but with six seconds remaining it fell through the hoop and put a perfect exclamation point on the Bengals' easiest win of the season.

It was the junior center's first field goal of the year, and the 2,455 in attendance cheered wildly for him. So did the Bengals' starting lineup, which was enjoying some much-deserved time on the bench.

"That was so awesome," senior center Lucas Steijn said. "The whole bench was going, 'Come on Tom, you can score here.' We see him in practice. We know what he can do. He's got some touch, and all he had to do was catch it, turn around and shoot it. He did it, and when it went in, it was pretty awesome."

All the baskets leading up to that final moment weren't bad either.

From the opening tip, Idaho State piledrived Sacramento State and dominated the game so completely that practically everyone in attendance left asking each other, "How did the Bengals ever lose to those guys?"

Based on Thursday's performance, that is a very good question.

When they first met in Sacramento, the Hornets (2-26 overall, 1-14 Big Sky) raced to a 15-point first-half lead, and the Bengals (11-18, 8-7) went on to lose 72-69. At Reed Gym, Idaho State led 26-3 before Sacramento State could score its first field goal.

To Steijn, it felt like a complete 180.

"That's what revenge feels like, too," he said.

The Hornets finally made a shot from the field with 5:35 remaining in the first half, but before Randy Adams' layup, senior guard Matt Stucki admitted he was thinking the Bengals could hold Sacramento State down all game.

"That thought really crosses your mind a little bit when you're playing that well defensively," he said. "But it's a good thing, because when you realize it you try a little harder on defense to keep their score down."

Idaho State did a good job of that. The Bengals never trailed and at halftime led 34-14. The 39 points it allowed by game's end set a school record for the fewest point total allowed against a Division I opponent.

The defensive-minded O'Brien couldn't say enough about that effort.

"That's what I've wanted all along," he said. "That's what I've thought we've been capable of since Day 1. … To hold a team to 39 points and 27 percent shooting is really rewarding."

Scoring 74 points on top of it felt pretty good, too.

Seven players scored at least seven points, and Austin Kilpatrick (11), Amorrow Morgan (12) and Steijn (10) all went for double figures.

Steijn and Morgan slammed home some impressive dunks, but more than anything, Idaho State hurt Sacramento State with outside shooting.

The Bengals shot surprisingly well from 3-point range and made 7-of-14 shots from behind the arc. Kilpatrick drained three, Morgan made both of his attempts and Stucki also knocked down two.

But on a night when even Taylor is sinking last-second shots, Morgan said he expected nothing less.

"Everybody played well," he said. "We got contributions from everyone who came in. … It was a lot of fun."

With the win, Idaho State clinched the No. 4 seed in the Big Sky tournament and will host a coveted postseason home game at 7:05 p.m. on March 7 at Holt Arena.

The Bengals have worked hard over the last month to achieve both goals, and O'Brien said he was proud of his team for coming together when it mattered most. But after destroying Sacramento State, he wanted to talk more about the future.

"Even though it's late in the season," he said, "I think this raised the bar on what we expect out of each other and what we're capable of."