OGDEN, Utah - After their comeback attempt had failed and their media obligations were over, Amorrow Morgan, Matt Stucki and Lucas Steijn came together in a tunnel at Dee Events Center for one final huddle.

Not much was said between the three upperclassmen. They were proud of the second-half effort they put forth against the favored Portland State Vikings and clearly enjoyed their time playing together at Idaho State over the years, but the look on their faces said it all.

They had lost 61-53 to Portland State in the Big Sky tournament semifinals Tuesday, and their season was over.

"When you know this is your last game together," said Steijn, a junior who scored a team-high 16 points, "it really hurts."

It was a painful feeling, all right. Coming into the matchup, the Bengals were on a roll, winning six of their last seven games. Some looked at them as the hottest team in the league, and there was great optimism that they could reach their first tournament title game since 1994.

It was a fun ride, and nobody wanted it to end.

But a disastrous stretch in the first half did them in. After initially building a lead on Portland State, the Bengals succumbed to a 21-6 run that drastically altered the game and left them trailing by 19 points at halftime.

It all started midway through the first half, and the Vikings pulled away by going on a 3-point shooting spree. The Bengals prolonged it by panicking on the other end.

Instead of using the offensive sets they had run so effectively during the past few weeks in qualifying for the Big Sky tournament, they abandoned them. Players tried to beat their defenders off the dribble and fired up outside shots before a single pass had been made.

Part of that had to do with Stucki and Steijn being in foul trouble. In their stead, only Felix Caspari, who scored six of Idaho State's final eight points of the first half, was able to consistently score.

But in that offense, Morgan, the Bengals' leading scorer, missed 11 of his first 12 shots, Idaho State shot just 29 percent from the field in the first half and the Bengals went on to miss all 13 of their 3-pointers by game's end.

It was frustrating, and the large contingent of Idaho State fans on hand were silent as Portland State went into the break leading 42-23.

"We had a really poor first half," ISU coach Joe O'Brien said.

But in the locker room, Idaho State regrouped. Morgan told his teammates that under no circumstances could they give up hope. After all, crazier comebacks had happened.

So the Bengals returned to the floor with a confident look and quickly got back in the game.

Steijn opened the half with a pair of free throws, and Idaho State was suddenly back to its old self. Defensive stops and turnovers became routine, and they turned into easy points on the other end. The Bengals made shot after shot, and before you knew it, they had completed an 18-3 run. Their once-insurmountable deficit was cut to a more manageable number.

With 12:03 remaining in the game, the score was 45-41, and Dee Events Center sounded like Holt Arena.

The incredible comeback suddenly seemed possible.

"We never give up," said Stucki, a senior guard who scored just three points in his finale. "No matter what the circumstances are, we always have hope."

But hope couldn't get enough shots through the basket. After trimming the lead down to four points, Idaho State missed three straight open looks. Unable to take control of the game, Portland State finally answered back with 9:50 remaining when senior Andre Murray scored four straight points to put the Vikings up 48-41.

Junior forward Chron Tatum threw down a dunk on Idaho State's next possession, but the Bengals missed four shots and committed a few sloppy turnovers before scoring again. That allowed Portland State to go back up by nine points, and by then time was running out.

"We've been in some holes and found a way to come back and win some games," O'Brien said. "But when you get out of February and into March, the chances of doing that after you were in a 19-point hole are pretty slim unless you play perfect down the stretch."

Idaho State, which finished the season 13-19 overall and 10-8 in conference play, wasn't able to pull off the perfect second-half performance, but it did twice cut Portland State's lead to three points late.

Vikings coach Ken Bone said the reason his team held on for victory was because it was fortunate to have a comfortable lead throughout the game.

"I thought (Idaho State) played with a lot of energy, but at the end of their run they just ran out of gas," he said. "I think both teams ran out of gas, but when they did, we were the one with a four-point lead."

Still, Morgan, a junior, took it upon himself to keep Idaho State going by getting to the basket and grabbing some key offensive rebounds. He scored Idaho State's final eight points of the game.

On his second of those baskets, he cut the lead to 52-49 with 2:36 to go and later made it 54-51 with a put-back bucket.

But Portland State, which will play Montana State at 8:35 p.m. today for the tournament title, immediately answered both baskets with points on the other end, and Idaho State couldn't keep up.

After the game, Morgan thought about those defensive lapses and the shots he missed down the stretch. He took the loss harder than anyone, and every missed opportunity bothered him. But more than anything, he just kept thinking back to that miserable first half that effectively ended his team's chances.

"The thought I keep having is, 'What if we would have played just a little harder in the first half?'" he said. "If we had, maybe we'd still be playing."