BOZEMAN, Mont. - Until the regular season comes to a close next weekend, there's no way to know for sure. But for now it looks like the Idaho State men's basketball team has finally made a breakthrough.

And what a breakthrough it could be.

For the third straight game, the Bengals stuck to a game plan, shared the wealth among a handul of players on offense and looked confident and focused from start to finish.

At this time a week ago, such play seemed to be an aberration - something Idaho State could pull off for one game but not sustain over any amount of time. But now, following a 63-56 victory over Montana State on Thursday at Worthington Arena that moved the Bengals to 7-6 in conference play and 10-17 overall, they seem for real.

"I don't want to jinx us," junior guard Austin Kilpatrick said, "but we have a lot of confidence, and we feel that we can win out."

With only three games remaining, that certainly is a possibility. Idaho State has already beaten its next opponent, Montana, and its last opponent, Northern Arizona, this season. And everyone on the Bengals roster wants revenge against its other remaining opponent, last-place Sacramento State.

Besides, the way the Bengals have played in their last three games, they are a much different team now than they were back when they shockingly lost to the Hornets.

No longer does Idaho State have bizarre 10-minutes lapses in the middle of games. After taking a 25-15 lead on Montana State late in the first half on a Kilpatrick 3-pointer, the Bengals never let the Bobcats come any closer than four points.

No longer does Idaho State help out its opponent by committing loads of turnovers. On Thursday, it committed only six.

No longer is Idaho State a one-man team. It's no longer up to Matt Stucki or Amorrow Morgan to carry the load by himself. On Thursday, both scored 12 points, but they had a lot of help.

It came inside with Lucas Steijn once again playing with a purpose. Against the Bobcats, the senior center scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds in 26 minutes of action. It was his third straight double-digit scoring game.

It came from the wing, where Donnie Carson is once again becoming a go-to threat. Against Montana State, the junior guard scored 13 points and snared five rebounds. Just like Steijn, it was his third straight double-digit scoring game.

And it even came from the bench, where Austin Kilpatrick is starting to come around. On Thursday, he took the court looking like he didn't care at all about how many 3-pointers he made and ended up with his best all-around game of the season: eight points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Coach Joe O'Brien said he was Idaho State's unsung player of the game.

"There's more to the game of basketball than shooting 3-pointers, and he's finally figuring that out," O'Brien said of Kilpatrick. "He can shoot the basketball, and it's great when he makes 3's for us. But he's a 6-foot-6 guard, and that's huge defensively for us. He's starting to do everything else for us, and that's huge for this team."

Morgan, who spoke publicly for the first time in two weeks after scoring 12 points against Montana State, said Kilpatrick isn't the only one suddenly adopting that "team-first" attitude.

"Everyone is stepping up," Morgan said. "Matt and me are still doing our best to lead, but it's easier now. Donnie is being more vocal, and Lucas is being vocal, too. That's really helped on the court."

With that improvement, all of a sudden the Bengals look a like a lock to make the Big Sky tournament and a front-runner to earn a postseason home game. Idaho State has moved ahead of Montana State (12-12, 6-7) and is now all alone at fourth place in the conference standings. With enough wins down the stretch, Idaho State could climb as high as second before the season comes to an end.

Pulling off that much of a rise could be far-fetched. But the way Idaho State is playing, Carson isn't ruling anything out.

"The best thing about this team is that we have finally jelled," he said. "It took us long enough, but I think we're a cohesive unit now. Everybody is contributing, everybody is locked in and really focused and everybody is peaking at the right time. We're on a mission right now, and we really like how things are going."