Dec. 29, 2007
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- Idaho State got a pair of double-doubles, as Demetrius Monroe had career-highs with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Matt Stucki added 10 points and 10 assists in a 71-66 victory for the Bengals over previously undefeated Northwest Nazarene on Saturday night in Holt Arena.
The double double-double were the first for Idaho State since January 4, 1999, when both Kevin Sweetwyne and Stephen Brown had double-doubles with points and assists. The Bengals also did something else for the first time in a while, as ISU played straight up man-to-man defense for all 40 minutes.
The decision was made by head coach Joe O'Brien, and he was pleased with the result. "It wasn't very pretty, but we changed how we're doing things. You haven't seen a basketball team since I've been here play 40 minutes of man defense, but tonight we said we're going to try it, and we're going do it. For me on Thursday night watching another team hit 10 threes and only getting 23 rebounds was the last straw."
Idaho State, playing their fifth consecutive opponent that entered the game shooting .500 from the field, played very well defensively, allowing NNU to shoot just .436, and only .300 from three-point range. The Bengals also outrebounded the Crusaders by 10, making ISU 3-0 when outrebounding their opponents.
Up two at the half after Joel Ryman drained a three just prior to the halftime buzzer, the Bengals never trailed in the second half. NNU scored the first second half basket to tie it at 36, but Matt Stucki, who was scoreless in the opening half despite five rebounds and seven assists, hit back-to-back baskets, including a three, to put ISU up five at 41-36. After a putback by NNU, ISU went on a 10-1 run to go up 52-40 for their largest lead of the game.
The Crusaders never did go away, but they never got closer than five until the 1:58 mark, when Ryman hit a layup to make it 66-63. After a steal, Tyler Roberts could only hit one free throw with 1:36 left to make it 66-64, but with just over a minute left, Amorrow Morgan delivered a perfect wrap-around pass to Demetrius Monroe, who hit for a 68-64 lead. Stucki hit a couple of free throws with 33.6 left, but Kendall Gielow answered with 22.2 left to make it 70-66. Morgan added one free throw late for the final margin.
The big game by Monroe marked his second career double-double, and his other came in ISU's other December win, on the 1st at Idaho, a fact not lost on O'Brien. "That's the first time since I've been here that we've had five in double figures, and that was a tremendous effort by Meetch off the bench. He did it at Idaho and we won, and he did it tonight and we won." O'Brien added on Monroe. "If we could get just 10 and six consistently from him we'd be real happy. I guess he just saves it up for one big game."
O'Brien also noted the efforts of his two starting guards as well "That was a really good effort by Matt with 10 assists, and he scored all his points in the second half. He only took seven shots but what a line, 10 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds ... and Amorrow continues to improve and play solid basketball."
The Bengals left Pocatello right after the game to head to Boise in order to catch a morning flight to Seattle as ISU will spend seven days on the road. ISU plays at Washington, who outscored LSU by 22 in the second half in a win on Saturday afternoon, with that game tipping at 4:07 pm on Monday afternoon on Fox NW. ISU will then open conference play on January 3 at Northern Colorado at 7:05 pm.
NOTES: The game marked the first double-figure assist game for a Bengal since Akbar Abdul-Ahad had 12 and 11 assists against Idaho and UC Davis last season ... Lucas Steijn did not play in the second half ... Logan Kinghorn suffered ISU's first foul out of the season ... ISU scored 32 points in the paint after scoring exactly 22 in each of the last four games ... Demetrius Monroe hit his first eight shots before three straight misses within seconds of each other in the final minute.
