CEDAR CITY, Utah — After Southern Utah closed the first half on a 21-9 run, the Bengals never panicked.

    Idaho State head coach Bill Evens didn’t storm into the locker room spitting fire. Evans was calm and so were his players.

    He did challenge his two senior leaders to break out of a funk.

    After scoring two points before the break, seniors Andre Hatchett and Tomas Sanchez combined for 28 in the second half and Idaho State cruised past Southern Utah 75-65 in front of 1,207 at Centrum Arena.

    “He came and pointed to me and Tomas and said, ‘You guys are playing as bad as you can,’ in nice words,” Hatchett said, referring to Evans’ halftime talk. “‘You guys have to come out and lead this team to victory.’ And I felt like we did that.”

    Hatchett had all 16 of his points in the final 20 minutes after starting 0 for 7 from the field. He finished the game nailing each of his last six field-goal attempts.

    On an off shooting night (1 for 10), Sanchez never heated up from the floor, but ISU’s point guard downed 10 of his 11 free throws in the second half to finish with 14 points.

    “I expected them to play better,” Evans said. “They stepped up like they should have. They’re both seniors.”

    Southern Utah started in a man-to-man defense and Idaho State shredded it. Junior Chris Hansen went to the post and had eight points in the first seven minutes.

    After Sanchez spotted freshman Justin Smith for a corner 3-pointer, Idaho State led 15-4 with 13 minutes and 32 seconds remaining in the half.

    But that’s where the momentum stopped for Idaho State and Southern Utah (1-22, 0-14 Big Sky), winless against Division I opponents this season, worked its way back into the fight.

    Second-year head coach Nick Robinson went to a zone defense and it flummoxed Idaho State.

    Sanchez, ISU’s second-leading scorer, missed a couple 3s, Smith had a layup attempt blocked at the rim and the T-Birds turned misses into early offense on the other end.

    In a steady turn of fate, Southern Utah whittled away and took it first lead on a John Marshall layin at the 1:04 mark.

    The Bengals slogged into the half facing a one-point deficit against a team that had lost 21 games in a row.

    Evans walked into the locker room convinced his team would reverse its fortune. He had a simple reason.

    “If I don’t believe in them, who (will)?” he said.

    After shooting 26 percent the opening 20 minutes, Idaho State hit 62 percent of its attempts down the stretch run, outscoring the Thunderbirds 51-40.

    “We weren’t panicked. We all trust (Tomas) and (Andre),” Hansen said. “They didn’t play so hot in the first half, but as team we trust them. They’ll lead us. You saw ‘Dre and ‘Mas make big plays in the second half. So credit to them.”

    Hansen led all scorers with 22 points and a team-high seven rebounds, the junior’s seventh game this season recording 20 or more points in a game.

    Idaho State moves to 6-7 in the Big Sky and 9-13 overall. With seven games left, the Bengals sit ninth in the league standings but trail third place by 1.5 games.

    “Every game from here on out is a must-win,” Hansen said. “With us being on the tail end of things, we need to win the games we’re supposed to win, and we need to win the games we’re not supposed to win.”

    Monday is one of those games Idaho State is not supposed to win. First-place Weber State (14-7, 11-2) visits Pocatello for a pivotal matchup starting at 7:05 p.m.

    The Wildcats held off the Bengals 65-59 in Ogden, Utah, Jan. 20.

    “We just need to win games,” Evans said. “We’ve got hard games coming up. Four road games, three home games and the next game we play is against the best team in the league right now.”