POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State's hot shooting helped guide the Bengals to an 81-74 victory over the Idaho men's basketball team on Saturday night at Reed Gym. 

The Vandals had four players score double digits on the night. Mikey Dixon tallied his 14th game in double-figures with a game-high 21 points and six rebounds. Rashad Smith scored his four consecutive double-digit output with 17 points and seven boards. JeMeil King notched a career-high 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting while freshman Yusef Salih added 10 points in his second start of the season.  

Idaho was unable to slow down the Bengal scoring attack, as Idaho State shot 50 percent from the field and 48.3 percent from three. Four Bengals reached double figures, including a team-high 20 points from Tarik Cool. 

The opening period got started with multiple 5-0 runs by ISU and Idaho to get the score to 10-5. The Vandals would come back to tie the score at 12-12 and take their first lead of the game after a layup from Salih. The Bengals would tie the game at 14 all before the Vandals eventually grabbed the lead right back and held it tell the 1:51 mark. Idaho State registered back-to-back threes to help take a 35-34 advantage at the half.    

Dixon scored 10 of his 21 points in the opening half while King dropped seven points off the bench. 

The Bengals opened the second half hitting one of their seven 3-pointers to push their lead to 38-34. ISU would shoot 62.5 percent for the remainder of the period and contain the lead the rest of the way, as Idaho fell 81-74. 

Next up: The Vandals round out a four-game road trip in Flagstaff when they travel to take on Northern Arizona on Jan. 17 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.