Feb. 12, 2004
Stats
Pocatello, ID -- Marquis Poole fueled a furious second half rally by Idaho State as the Bengals clawed their way back from a 23-point second half deficit to two, but a desperation three-pointer with two seconds on the shot clock was banked in by true freshman Nick Dissly, and Montana State held on to win 76-71.
Dissly's three came with 2:39 left in the game, and it gave Montana State a 72-67 lead, providing the margin of victory. Idaho State got a shot to tie down 74-71, but Doug D'Amore, who went 8-for-8 against Montana State in their first meeting, went 0-for-6 from the field, all threes, including the potential tying shot with 17 seconds left. Montana State missed two of their final four free throws to keep ISU hanging around.
The Bengals shot just .313 in the first half, and MSU hit eight threes in shooting .545 in taking a 46-29 lead at the half. Poole had nearly half of ISU's points in the first half, scoring 14. In the second half, Poole was 7-for-10 shooting, scoring 17 points, giving him a game-high 31.
ISU was down 23 with 18:46, the they were down 21 at 13:25 at 62-41, but ISU started their comeback with an 14-4 run to get to 66-55 at the 6:45 mark, when MSU's Jason Erickson fouled out of the game. The Bengal then cut the lead to 69-67 after a third straight Poole basket with 3:12 to go, but Dissly responded with his banked three.
Amazingly, despite dropping to 5-4 with the loss in the Big Sky, Idaho State remained in a tie for second place with Northern Arizona as the 'Jacks lost to Portland State. Eastern Washington defeated Sacramento State handily and moved 3 1/2 games ahead of the rest of the league, and they can clinch the league title and the right to host the conference tournament on Saturday with a win over Northern Arizona and a loss by Idaho State to Montana. The Bengals host the Griz, who defeated Weber State on Thursday, on Saturday night at 7:05 pm.
