Dec. 6, 2006
Final Stats
Photo Gallery
Pocatello, ID --- Idaho State University's Holt Arena has long been a solid home court advantage for ISU basketball, and Wednesday certainly added to the mystique as the Bengals bull-rushed Idaho to a 25-6 lead to start the game on the way to a solid 82-61 win over their intrastate rivals, ISU's third consecutive win in the series.
Idaho State was paced by a sparkling night by two Idaho natives, as Salmon's David Schroeder had 27 points and Rigby's Logan Kinghorn added 21. Schroeder broke a Holt Arena record with seven three-pointers, and Kinghorn led the Bengals with seven rebounds. The two were a combied 17-for-23 shooting and 8-for-10 from the three, but the hot shooting night was not confined to just them. ISU shot .600 for the game from the field, and .600 from three-point range as well (12-of-20), and it was in the first half ISU did their damage.
The Bengals opened up a 16-6 lead after 3:33 was gone, and then led 25-6 just 5:57 in, and 37-10 just 8:55 in as well. Idaho State scored on each of their first nine possessions and 15 of their first 16 possessions. The Bengals blitzed Idaho by shooting .720 in the opening half, including .727 from three-point range.
Idaho, down 48-26 at the break, did answer back in the second half, mostly on the wild shoots of Keoni Watson, who was benched in the first half by coach George Pfeifer. Watson scored 20 points in the second half (the only Vandal to bust double-figures), many of the shots wild and off balance, or in one case, desperately beating the shot clock with a running three off the glass.
It was a Watson three-pointer with 9:02 left that cut the lead all the way down to 61-51, but Akbar Abdul-Ahad, who had a career-high 12 assists, nailed his first basket of the game, a three from the angle-right, and after a turnover, Schroeder found Kinghorn along the left baseline for a 10-foot jumper to move the lead back to 15. Watson hit another three, but John Ofoegbu hit a pair of threes, and Abdul-Ahad drained his second three for a 71-54 lead.
When Donnie Carson and Ofoebgu teamed up for a rebound basket and then two more free throws to make it 75-54 with 4:26 left, that essentially iced the game. The only drama left was Schroeder, who had six threes to that point, but nailed a seventh with 31 seconds left for the record.
The real star of the game might just as well have been Holt Arena, which saw 3,009 fans enter the building for the game. That crowd was the largest to watch an ISU home game since February 22, 2003 when 3,158 fans saw ISU defeat Sacramento State 90-83 in Reed Gym, a span of 40 games.
The Bengals, along with Schroeder and Kinghorn, had Demetrius Monroe score 10 points and grab six rebounds in his second career start. ISU outrebounded Idaho 35-21. ISU hosts UC Davis on Saturday night, with tip-off at 7:05 in Holt Arena.
NOTES: The previous record for threes by a Bengal in Holt was six, shared by Tim Erickson, Jordie McTavish, and Jim Rhode ... ISU's best home attendance in 2005-06 was 2,588 for the Weber State game ... ISU has won three straight over Idaho for the first time since winning six straight from 1994-1996 ... Kinghorn's 21 points was a season-high, and he played the final eight minutes or so without his mask for the first time this year ... Idaho received a technical foul for having six players on the court in the first half ... Idaho was just 1-for-6 from the line.
