Shooting 47.4% and committing a season-low six turnovers wasn’t enough for Idaho State on Thursday, as the Bengals fell 83-67 at Northern Colorado.

The Bears (13-7, 6-3 Big Sky Conference) shot 53.7% from the floor and 14 of 30 from 3-point range, keeping ISU at arm’s length for most of the game and sending the Bengals to their fifth consecutive loss.

“They’ve been the best offensive team in the Big Sky that we’ve played so far this year, and we knew it was going to be a problem just because of how many players they put on the floor that can shoot the 3,” ISU coach Ryan Looney said in a postgame radio interview. “They run some stuff to put you in help situations and they’ve got some older, veteran guys that took advantage of our mistakes.”

UNC went on an 11-0 run midway through the first half, extending a 19-17 lead to 30-17 in a span of 2 minutes, 13 seconds.

The Bengals (6-13, 3-7 Big Sky) trailed 40-29 at halftime. They cut the deficit to five points multiple times early in the second half, but never climbed all the way back, making three field goals over the final 7:30 of the game.

Northern Colorado outscored Idaho State 64-50 after the initial media timeout, which didn’t occur until there was 10:29 left in the opening half.

“We had it tied or maybe down two at that point, and immediately (Northern Colorado) came out and they went on an (11)-0 run,” Looney said. “We kind of lost our minds during that stretch and honestly, that was the difference in the game.”

Northern Colorado’s 14 made 3s are the most by an ISU opponent this season. The Bears made seven treys in each half, with Trent Harris going 7 of 14 while Jonah Radebaugh and Rodrick McCobb combined to go 5 for 5.

Northern Colorado’s ball movement, ball screens and drive-and-kick plays led to open outside shots. The Bears assisted on 16 of their 29 baskets.

“Their willingness to be unselfish, share the ball to get to those open 3-point shots (was impressive),” Looney said. “We’re a team that, sometimes, rushes some of those same situations, passing up a good shot to get to a great one, and I think that you can see that’s something Northern Colorado really understands right now.”

Malik Porter led Idaho State with a career-high 25 points on 12-of-19 shooting, adding seven rebounds in 33 minutes.

He led ISU’s offense inside, as the Bengals went 4 of 11 (36.4%) on 3s and 24 of 46 (52.2%) on 2-pointers.

“We realized early in the game that (the post) was the easiest place for us to score, based on how they were guarding us,” Looney said. “Northern Colorado was willing to play 1-on-1 in the post, so we just tried to take advantage of it a little bit.”

Jared Stutzman added 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting. Tarik Cool had 10 points and six assists.

Radebaugh led UNC with 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting, with seven rebounds and four assists. Harris had 21 points.

Up next:

Idaho State plays Saturday at Southern Utah.

NORTHERN COLORADO 83, IDAHO STATE 67

ISU 29 38 — 67

UNC 40 43 — 83

ISU — Smellie 6, Cool 10, Stutzman 13, Porter 25, Maker 7, Udengwu 6.

UNC — Harris 21, Radebaugh 22, Hume 7, Jockuch 7, Johnson 11, McCobb 11, Edwards 4.