Feb. 27, 2006
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- If Monday night's game against Eastern Washington was the final game in the careers, they at least went out in style, if not on the winning end. Henry drained a career-high 35 points, and Schroeder matched his career-high with 29, but ISU couldn't recapture a late lead and lost to Eastern Washington 94-87, ending ISU's season at 13-14, as the Bengals missed the conference tournament for the second straight season.
The game also ended the ISU coaching career of Doug Oliver, who had announced January 17 that he was stepping down from his post, and it also was Slim Millien's last game. Millien would love to have one play back though. Up 77-76 at the 3:46 mark, Millien, who owns 82 career dunks, missed a dunk, and then Henry missed a three on the next possession, and uber-freshman Rodney Stuckey made ISU pay with a three-pointer to give Eastern Washington the lead for good at the 3:02 mark.
Eastern went up by six with 1:54 left on a Paul Butorac dunk, but Schroeder made a late push, hitting a three on the run, and then a spinning layup with 1:11 left to cut the lead to 84-83. Stuckey however put a dagger through ISU with a three-point play, part of his 28-point night, to put Eastern up four. The teams exchanged four free throws each before Ryan Baumgartner missed a layup late, and the Eagles (14-14, 9-5 Big Sky) hit three freebies in the final 11.1 left to seal the deal.
Schroeder and Henry both have the opportunity to appeal to the NCAA for a sixth year. Schroeder missed three seasons at ISU with knee injuries, and Henry missed parts of two seasons with a knee injury as well.
"It was frustrating because I hate to lose. You know, walking down the hall to do the radio it sort of dawned on me that this is the last time I'll do this here," said Doug Oliver, who ended his ISU career fifth on the all-time wins list with 88. "But even walking in here, it was just frustrating because I hate losing."
Both teams were unstoppable early, and no one shot under 50% in either half, and the teams committed just 18 turnovers combined. The Bengals were ahead 45-41 at the break, but dropped to 0-7 in Big Sky play this season when ISU led or was tied at the half this season.
Henry's 35 included an amazing 27-point first half, and Schroeder's 29 finished a wicked week in which he averaged 25.0 points over the three games this week. The only other Bengal in double figures was Kasey Winters, who had 15 points. For Eastern Washington, they were led for the 25th straight time by Rodney Stuckey, who had 29. Paul Butorac and Rhett Humphrey each had 15, Matt Penoncello had 13, and Kellen Williams added 10.
NOTES: Idaho State got six blocks from Slim Millien, ending his season with 93 ... David Schroeder has 132 three points, and he will assuredly break the record of 135 by Jeff Gardner should he get another year ... ISU was outrebounded 33-25, including 16-7 offensively ... ISU shot .574 for the game ... Akbar Abdul-Ahad had eight assists in 14 minutes of action ... ISU is one of five Division I programs looking for a head coach, but three of them are in the Big Sky, as Weber State and Northern Colorado are also looking for head coaches.
