March 1, 2003
Box Score
Cheney, WA --- Rashad Kirkland scored the game-winner on a layup after a dish from Jeremy Brown with 6.3 seconds left to give Idaho State a 65-63 win in their regular season finale. The win gave Idaho State a tie for third place with Montana in the Big Sky standings at 7-7, and pushed ISU to 14-13 overall.
The game-winner was Kirkland's second of the season. Kirkland hit a layup with 3.1 seconds remaining to defeat Montana State 56-55 in Pocatello, earlier this season.
Kirkland's basket capped a masterful game by the Bengals, who bolted out to a 25-9 lead with just 6:10 remaining in the first half. Kirkland led the Bengals with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting. The Bengals as a team shot .591 in the first half and .533 for the game.
Idaho State never trailed, and led by a 25-9 count with 6:10 remaining in the first half after the second of Arzelle Lewis's three-pointers. Eastern fought back, cutting the lead to seven at 28-21. The Bengals led at the break 35-26, but the Eagles, who came into the game 9-1 on their home court, fought back to tie the game at 45 at the 11:53 mark.
Kirkland scored 10 of Idaho State's next 11 points, putting ISU up 56-52. Two David Schreoder free throws and a Danny Boticki putback of his own miss put ISU up 60-52 with 5:10 left. Eastern, however, went on a 9-1 run to tie the game when Keith Brown hit a free throw with 3:14 left. He missed the second, a shot that would have given the Eagles their first lead.
Marquis Poole took Danny Pariseau to the hole and gave ISU a 63-61 lead with 2:59 left, but Browne scored with 1:30 left to tie the game again.
After an ISU turnover, Eastern had a shot to take the lead again, but Browne missed a layup. After a timeout, Jeremy Brow held the ball as the clock wound down, drove the lane, and dished to Kirkland for the winning basket. Eastern managed to get a shot off at the buzzer, but Marc Axton's three was off the rim.
While the game didn't mean much in the standings, other games did. Northern Arizona defeated Montana, meaning the Bengals will host Northern Arizona at 5:05 pm on Saturday, March 8 in Reed Gym. Montana, who finished tied with ISU for third but owned the tiebreaker to claim the number three seed, will host Sacramento State, who qualified for the Big Sky Tournament for the first time in school history with their home win over Montana State, eliminating the Bobcats.
