Feb. 27, 2007
Final Stats |
Quotes
Pocatello, ID --- With one last chance to make the Big Sky Conference Tournament for the first time since the 2004 season, the Idaho State Bengals did not let this one slip away. The Bengals allowed a record-low 15 points in the first half, forcing Montana State into a woeful 0-for-14 three-point effort in the half as well, on the way to a 67-58 win over the Bobcats, giving the Bengals the #6 seed and a return engagement with the Montana Grizzlies on Saturday night.
The Bengals are at Montana because Northern Arizona defeated Northern Colorado 89-77 to tie for the league title and take the #2 seed in the conference tournament. The win by ISU also knocked Montana State down to the #5 seed, meaning they will have to travel to Portland State on Saturday in the other quarterfinal game. The Bobcats would have hosted Portland State with a win.
The Bengals won the game with a stifling defensive effort in the first half, forcing the Bobcats into an 0-for-14 half from the three-point line, and just .207 from the field.
ISU (13-16, 8-8) was up 13-11 at the 8:29 mark when they went on a debilitating 18-4 run to end the half, and it actually stretched into a 24-4 run over 10:50 before Carson Durr hit MSU's first three-pointer, that coming on their 17th attempt.
Down 15 with 3:48 left, MSU made a final push, getting a quick 7-0 run with baskets around Amorrow Morgan missing two front ends of one-and-ones. However Matt Stucki hit two free throws to thwart that, and the game never got back into single digits until Danny Piepoli's jumper with 9.1 seconds left.
For the Bengals, it turned into a memorable senior night, as Akbar Abdul-Ahad, Nick Rhodes, David Schroeder, and John Ofoegbu all played in their final home games. Schroeder, who participated in senior night last season before getting a sixth-year from the NCAA, led ISU with 20 points. Matt Stucki add 14, and Nick Rhodes had nine points and 11 rebounds.
For the Bobcats, Ted Morris and Carlos Taylor each had 13, and Nick Dissly had 11 as well. Montana State actually outshot ISU .383 to .365, but the Bengals cleaned up the glass, outrebounding the Bobcats 43-32.
NOTES: Idaho State's last Big Sky Conference Tournament win was a quarterfinal win in 2004 over Montana 74-73 in Reed Gym ... The Bengals are 12-54 lifetime against the Griz in Missoula, and they've won back-to-back games there just once, in 1964 and 1965 ... Schroeder now has 487 points this season, and with 13, he will become just the 24th player to ever record 500 points in a season for ISU ... ISU improved to 1-4 with the starting lineup of Abdul-Ahad, Schroeder, Stucki, Kinghorn, and Rhodes ... ISU finished .500 in Big Sky play for the third time in five seasons ... ISU held Montana State to 58 points in both meetings.
