Feb. 16, 2006
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- What Idaho State worked so hard to attain in the first 36 minutes came crashing down in the final four minutes as the Bengals allowed a 70-67 lead to slip away with four minutes remaining as the Vikings outscored the Bengals 13-3 over the final four minutes and stole an 80-73 win against Idaho State.
Up 70-67 after a three-point play by Slim Millien with exactly 4:00 left, the wheels came off as the Vikings scored on two straight second chance opportunities. First, Anthony Washington had a rebound dunk, and then Washington grabbed a rebound and dished to Juma Kamara in the corner for a three and a 72-70 PSU lead, their first since 13-12 at the 14:40 mark of the first half.
ISU then couldn't buy a basket, getting just one made free throw over six possession until David Schroeder hit a with 27.1 left to make the score 78-73. PSU hit just three of their final six free throws to keep it interesting.
The Bengals were hurt on the glass, getting outrebounded 42-31, giving up 16 offensive boards, 10 in the second half. Those offensive rebounds led to PSU's 17-7 advantage in second chance points.
While the loss doesn't help ISU any in their quest for a conference tournament berth, it doesn't harm them nearly as much as it could have, coupled with Weber State and Sacramento State both losing on Wednesday. Sacramento State can now clinch a playoff berth with just one win or one more ISU loss. The Bengals now must defeat Weber State on Saturday and Eastern Washington on Monday to make the tournament field, although they would still need Eastern to finish ahead of Montana State in the standings. Those two teams play in Cheney next Saturday.
ISU was led in scoring by Slim Millien with 19 points, David Schroeder added 16, Tim Henry added 12, and Kasey Winters had 11. Jake Schroeder had 18 to lead the Vikings. Anthony Washington scored 14, Scott Morrison had 13, Juma Kamara had 12, and Ryan Sommer had 11. Morrison added 11 rebounds for a double-double.
NOTES: The Bengals play a non-conference game on Tuesday night at Utah Valley State ... Slim Millien blocked three shots, putting him one behind Steve Hayes on the ISU list, and two back on the Big Sky single-season block list ... ISU was just 12-for-19 from the line ... Logan Kinghorn had a career-high seven assists ... The Bengals dropped to 6-5 this season when leading at the half, and 0-5 in conference play when leading at the half.
