POCATELLO - Ever since starting the season with a 16-point effort against Eastern Oregon, Lucas Steijn has been an afterthought on offense for the Idaho State men's basketball team.

But against Utah State on Saturday at Holt Arena, the senior center was the most noticeable player on the court.

He made all four of his shots from the field, drained 7-of-9 free throws and scored a game-high 15 points. He also grabbed three rebounds and committed no turnovers.

All of it came off the bench.

"I thought it was maybe the best game he's played since he's been here," ISU coach Joe O'Brien said. "If we named a player of the game, it would definitely be him."

Steijn made his impact early. Shortly after entering the game before the first media time out, he made three straight baskets for the Bengals and scored seven points in less than 1:30.

He went on to play aggressive all game and was Idaho State's only player to score more than 10 points.

All this begged the question of why Steijn hasn't played more lately. He started the season as a starter but came into Saturday averaging only 18 minutes per game.

O'Brien said it was because new starting center Deividas Busma has been playing well, and he wanted to give the JUCO transfer extra minutes before the start of conference play.

"We've been doing everything possible to prepare for Big Sky play," he said. "We're trying to get David as many minutes as possible so that when we start conference play, he's going to be ready and comfortable out there."

Whatever the case, teammates say they hope Steijn continues to play as well as he did against Utah State.

"That's really nice to have a presence down low," ISU guard Matt Stucki said. "As a guard, being able to throw it into our post players with confidence is something that's going to help down the road."

Carson comeback

It wasn't a breakout game, but junior guard Donnie Carson responded to well to O'Brien's pregame challenge that he start producing more on offense.

Carson scored seven points, snared three rebounds and committed no turnovers.

"We saw some spurts out of Donnie tonight," O'Brien said.

Turnover low

Idaho State committed just seven turnovers against Utah State.

It was good for a season low. Amorrow Morgan led the team with three giveaways, but no one else coughed up the ball more than once.