ESPN Men's Basketball

LOGAN, Utah (AP) -- Andre Heard scored 17 points to lead Binghamton to a 59-46 victory over Idaho State Thursday night in the opening round of the Gossner Foods Holiday Classic.

Binghamton will play in the championship game Friday night against Utah State, which beat Arkansas-Little Rock 76-44 in the second game Thursday night.

Binghamton (3-8) was 10-of-14 from the free-throw line in the final three minutes of the game to preserve the win.

Idaho State (7-3) was plagued by 21 turnovers in the game and was only 13-of-23 in free throws for the game.

ISU was led by Matt Stucki and Kasey Winters with nine points each.

Troy Hailey also dropped in 14 points for Binghamton.

Trailing by as many as 14 points midway through the second half, the Bengals were able narrow the Bearcats lead to 52-46 with 2:23 remaining on a backdoor lay-in by Matt Schroeder.

But frantic defensive pressure by ISU sent the Bearcats to the line where BU was able to seal the game.

A low-scoring first half was marked by 13 Bengal turnovers, though the Bearcats only shot 12-of-36. A steal and subsequent dunk by Mike Gordon in the final minute of the opening half gave Binghamton a 34-22 halftime edge.

ISU's leading scorer (17.4 ppg) Slim Millien was held to five points in the opening half, seven for the game.

The Bearcats outrebounded the Bengals 45-33.