POCATELLO – Ryan Looney halted practice on Friday. There were only 10 minutes left, but the frustration of the Idaho State coach boiled over. His casket flew off aND he started yelling at his team about acting too loose, saying they weren’t seriously repping through late-game situations.

“There’s gonna come a day when we need this stuff,” Looney preached.

It took less than 48 hours for Looney’s declaration to present itself. We’ll get to how the situation arose in a second, but, for now, you just need to know it did in what became a 57-56 victory for the Bengals (7-5, 4-1 Big Sky).

There were nine seconds left in overtime when Looney called a timeout. Sacramento State’s Ethan Esposito was soon to be standing at the free-throw line in a tied game. Whether he made it and the Hornets went up a point or he missed and the game remained deadlocked, the play would be the same.

Because regardless if the free throw was good or not, the ball would be on the far baseline and Idaho State would need any basket to go ahead. In the huddle, Looney called the play.

Soon after, Esposito’s charity-stripe attempt flushed through the strings. Idaho State manned their positions for its last-second shot. Guard Tarik Cool passed the ball into Robert Ford III. Shooters Daxton Carr and Austin Smellie took post on opposite corners. And center Brayden Parker set a quick screen during the inbounds so Ford could catch the pass on the run.

If the defense collapsed on Ford, he had shooters open. If not, “his goal was to drive it as hard as he could down the floor, put his head down, get to the rim and put a ton of pressure on the officials to make the call.”

A defender met Ford at the ISU 3-point line. The 6-foot guard took the ball to the outside and pushed his way inside towards the rim, chucking up a close-range flick through contact. Whistles bellowed throughout the arena.

Ford knocked down his free throws, the Bengals held on defense and earned their seventh win in eight games.

“What we did to get Robert Ford to the free-throw line at the end of the game to win it is exactly what we worked on during practice on Friday,” Looney said. “Credit to our guys for going out there and executing.”

A few minutes prior, it looked like poor late-game execution was going to cost the Bengals a game it was more than in control of. ISU had a seven-point lead at halftime then didn’t score for the first 3:15 of the second period. A tug of war for the lead extended for the rest of regulation but Smellie knocked down 1 of 2 free throws to send it to overtime.

In the extra period, Parker, who scored 18 points, scored the first four points and the Bengals had a four-point lead with under 20 seconds to play. Then Sac St. guard Bryce Fowler, who finished with a game-high 19 points, knocked down a jumper. ISU needed to simply draw a foul and knock down a few free throws to ice the game.

Instead, Ford caught the inbounds and was trapped by two Hornets. Looney tried to call timeout but the refs could hear him. Instead of calling for one on the court, Ford tried to force a pass down the sideline. It was picked off by Esposito, who drove hard at Carr, drew a foul and sunk the layup.

Ford became the hero of Sunday, scoring an important 8 points and grabbing a game-high 13 boards. At that moment, he seemed a likely scapegoat candidate. Just after he was fouled, there was a timeout on the floor. Ford had a lot of time to think about his earlier mistake, a lot of time to get in his head, a lot of time for doubt to creep in his thoughts.

Except it didn’t

“(My thought-process) was just relax, take my time and do what we do,” he said. “We make free throws.”

For those who have followed Idaho State for a while, that confidence may seem foreign. Even for those who kept tabs on Looney’s first season in Pocatello, there was an expectation that close games weren’t going to favor Idaho State. That the Bengals, whether because of inexperience or a new coaching staff or a bad mindset, would find a way to lose down the stretch.

“Last year, we would have found a way to lose that game,” Looney said. “I think everyone can see that we’re drastically improved and we’re slowly getting better and better.”

Added Parker: “The psyche is more of that we go into practice every day knowing we want to win games. Our end goal is to win the game. It doesn’t matter how we do it. It doesn’t matter if it takes four overtime.”

On Sunday, it only took one.

Idaho State will host Sacramento State (4-2, 2-1) again on Monday at 1 p.m.

IDAHO STATE 57, SACRAMENTO STATE 56 (OT)

Sacramento State 23 26 7 –56

Idaho State 30 19 8 – 57

Sacramento State – Fowler 19, Esposito 15, FitzPatrick 9, Hector 7, McCullough 3, Davis 2, Highler 1.

Idaho State – Cool 18, Parker 18, Ford III 8, Smellie 4, Carr 3, Sorensen 2, Porter 2, Taylor III 2.