Nov. 8, 2006
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID, --- Idaho State University entered their final exhibition game wanting to cut down their turnovers, and play a more complete game. Mission accomplished. The Bengals shot .635 for the game and hit 12 three-pointers, and cut their turnovers from 30 down to 15 in an 89-65 win over Westminster College in the final preseason game of the exhibition season for Idaho State.
The Bengals were led by Akbar Abdul-Ahad who netted a game-high 25 points, including 20 in a first half were he practically couldn't miss, hitting six threes in the opening stanza.
For Idaho State, the big stat was turnovers. Just four days after turning the ball over 30 times against Albertson College, the Bengals had just 15, and five of those came after offensive fouls. Westminster had only one steal on the night.
"I was happy with that," said head coach Joe O'Brien of the turnovers. "There were a couple of turnovers that were a little silly, but we are playing a lot of freshmen. I can live with 15 turnovers, especially coming off of 30."
Idaho State found themselves down 9-4 after Westminster scored seven straight, a sequence started by a rare technical foul on Matt Stucki after he drove the lane for an emphatic dunk and yelled towards the crowd. ISU then reeled off a 20-2 run with David Schroeder hitting three buckets, and then getting a pair of threes apiece from Stucki and Abdul-Ahad for a 24-11 lead.
The lead basically hovered around that 13-point mark for the remainder of the half, but ISU pushed the game out of reach early in the second half outscoring the Griffins (ranked #13 in the NAIA) 16-8 to open the half.
"I've always said the first four minutes of each half and the last four minutes have to be your best basketball, and I thought we did that, and built a little cushion," said O'Brien. "I think those eight minutes tonight were much better than last game."
Westminster was able to remain in the game somewhat through the heroics of their star point guard Danny Reeder, who nearly had a double-double with 13 points and nine assists with just three turnovers.
"We knew Danny Reeder was a true point guard, who is unselfish and likes to create, and we knew he'd be a problem, but we did some things to change it up in the second half, and I think we were able to slow some of the things he was doing down a bit," said O'Brien.
Idaho State had as good a shooting night as could be practically, hitting 63.5% in the second half, including 14-of-21 in the second half. ISU was outrebounded, but only 20-19 and Westminster hit 55.8% from the field to counter ISU. The Bengals also had 22 assists to their 15 turnovers, and they had 10 steals as well to go along with 12-for-22 three-point shooting.
Said O'Brien, "We are learning to become a good defensive team, but what we are is a good shooting team. I'm never satisfied, but I'm more satisfied than I was three days ago."
Along with Abdul-Ahad's 25 points, Schroeder added a quiet 20, Matt Stucki had 14, and John Ofoegbu chipped in 10. Ofoegbu's five rebounds led ISU, and Amorrow Morgan and Logan Kinghorn each had four assists.
For the Griffins, Jordan Jacobs had 17 points, Reeder added 13, and Nick Booth had 12.
The Bengals now leave for the CBE Classic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the Bengals will take on #16 Marquette on Monday at 6:05 pm in the Bradley Center.
