krobinett@journalnet.com

OGDEN, Utah - Matt Stucki wasn't happy about it, and Randy Rahe apologized for it.

But no matter how you took the final scoring attempt of Weber State's 75-61 victory over Idaho State on Saturday at Dee Events Center - a needless dunk attempt by seldom-used Wildcats forward Marco Ramos - it definitely summed up how the game was won.

No matter the situation, even while leading by 12 points with only seconds remaining on the clock, Weber State was aggressive. Much more aggressive than Idaho State.

Because of that, the Wildcats went to the line 32 times - 13 more than the Bengals - and cashed in for 24 points. Compared to Idaho State's 12 made free throws, that more or less was the difference in the game.

"They were much more aggressive," O'Brien said. "That's what I spent my postgame conversation talking about with them. I'm not mad at anybody, but they need to have a team meeting. They need to see if they can get to one another because I'm not getting enough out of enough of them."

The last time Idaho State players held meetings without coaches, they reeled off three straight wins over Montana, Montana State and Northern Arizona. Back then, they talked about starting games with more energy. What they will talk about this time is a mystery.

On Saturday, Idaho State got off to a tremendous start. Lucas Steijn made back-to-back buckets to start the scoring, Chron Tatum threw down the first of two vicious dunks and Donnie Carson soared to the rim for a put-back that gave the Bengals a 8-0 lead four minutes in.

But then, everything changed.

Weber State finally scored with 15:41 remaining in the first half and unleashed a 32-15 run to go ahead 32-23 just before halftime.

Idaho State answered back with a basket from Felix Caspari and a 3-pointer from Stucki to make the score 32-28 at the break, but the Bengals' confidence and momentum was gone.

Part of the their collapse was due to leading scorer Amorrow Morgan missing most of the first half after being poked in the eye. But that didn't explain everything.

"I don't know what happened there," Tatum said. "All teams are gonna get a run, but they really got a run and consistently kept it going."

It all went back to aggressiveness. Whether it was Daviin Davis, Kellen McCoy or Ramos, Weber State drove toward the basket and made something happen. Davis led all scorers with 19 points, 10 of them coming on free throws, and McCoy dropped in 18.

"They drove it down our throat," junior guard Amorrow Morgan said. "They were a lot tougher than us tonight. We've got to come out in practice and play a lot harder from now on."

That may start by following Tatum's example.

Against Weber State, he scored 13 points, snared nine rebounds and made by far the two most impressive dunks of the season. The first came early in the game, and the second was a real doozy. Down by nine points with 6:15 to go, he drove the lane, flew above a Weber State forward and silenced the 7,401 fans on hand with a tomahawk dunk.

"That was an awfully athletic play," O'Brien said. "He jumped over a pretty tall player for that one."

The dunk ignited a 9-3 run that cut Weber State's lead down to 55-52 with 3:42 remaining, but after a timeout, McCoy made a deep 3-pointer with defenders all over him, and the Wildcats closed the game out on a 20-9 run.

With Morgan, who scored 11 points, still woozy from his eye injury, Stucki was the only regular scorer left on the floor. He put in 15 points, but it wasn't enough for Idaho State to keep up.

"That gave them the chance to really focus in on Stucki," O'Brien said. "It's no secret who are scorers are, and when you take one of them away, it makes it tough for us."

Other than the rough beginning, the game was easy for Weber State.

With the win, the Wildcats improved to 14-8 overall and 8-1 in the Big Sky. Idaho State, with its third straight loss, dropped to 7-16 and 4-5.

Rahe enjoyed every moment of it, other than Ramos trying to end the game with an exclamation point.

"I apologize for that," he said. "The game was over, and we wanted to run out the clock. But the kid who tried to do it, he hasn't been playing much and got excited. He's a wonderful kid, but we never want to do anything to show anyone up."

Not even when it's what his team did successfully all game.