Jan. 27, 2008
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- Demetrius Monroe's putback with 7.5 seconds left capped a wild second half that saw Idaho State prevail 69-67 over Northern Arizona despite an 11-point second half deficit, three technical fouls, and the ejection of head coach Joe O'Brien. Matt Stucki then sealed the deal by taking a charge with 0.9 seconds left from Josh Wilson.
With 38.9 left, Idaho State worked the clock down, and Matt Stucki took a shot for the lead with 11 seconds left, but it was short. He hustled and got his own rebound but missed the follow, with Donnie Carson getting the rebound, but his putback attempt was swatted away by Kyle Landry, but the ball went right to Monroe, who easily layed it up and in for the lead with 7.5 left.
That set up the final play, where Josh Wilson drove for a layup from outside the three-point area, but Matt Stucki, who broke a tooth for the second time this season, took the charge.
"I saw him going for the basket, and I just stepped in, and I thought I was there in time," said Stucki, who visibly was looking around after the play to make sure he got the call. "I heard the crowd cheering, but I was in a spot where I couldn't see any of the officials, but the crowd sort of let me know."
Monroe earned hero status with his second game-winning shot of the season, as he hit a shot with 4.4 left to defeat Idaho 71-69 in overtime back in December. However, the leg work was done by his other sophomore mates, particularly Amorrow Morgan, who scored a career-high 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including several highlight reel drives to the basket, and a monster dunk.
It looked for a while like there never would be a comeback, as Northern Arizona (14-7, 6-2) took advantage of three technical fouls by Idaho State. The first was on head coach Joe O'Brien with 10:08 in the first half, and NAU ended up with three shots as there was a foul as well on ISU, resulting in NAU taking a 14-12 lead. O'Brien picked up a second technical at the 16:56 mark of the second half, getting ejected for the first time in his ISU career.
Nathan Geiser hit both technicals to give the Lumberjacks their biggest lead at 40-29, but the ejection seemed to energize both Idaho State and their crowd of 2,327. Morgan started the comeback with a tough jumper in the lane, and then a monster baseline dunk to cut it to seven. Austin Kilpatrick drained a three to make it 42-38. The teams traded points until Matt Stucki hit two free throws and then Monroe hit a backdoor lay-in from Stucki to tie the game at 47.
The Bengals (8-12, 5-2) finally took the lead again when Stucki, who was scoreless the first 27:31 of the game, hit a three to give ISU a 57-54 lead. The Bengals got a couple of free throws, and then Donnie Carson unleashed another mosterous dunk with 4:06 remaining to give ISU their biggest lead at 61-54, but a technical was assessed for pulling up on the rim, and that kick started NAU's comeback.
They hit both technicals, and then Kyle Landry, who proved his worthiness as a Big Sky Player of the Year Candidate with a career-best 30 points, drained two free throws. He and Logan Kinghorn traded baskets, and three more free throws made it a 63-63 tie with 2:19 to go.
After Morgan hit a circus shot in the lane, Landry scored NAU's next four, including two more at the line with 1:04 left for a 67-65 lead. However, Morgan hit a 17-footer with 58.6 left, and then Monroe stole a pass headed for Landry under the basket, setting up the final moments.
"It's just real frustrating to not be able to be around for the whole 40 minutes," said O'Brien. "But, we are in a position that we are extremely happy with and extremely proud of, and now tomorrow as coaches we will get to work and start worrying about Weber."
With O'Brien ejected, the reigns were handed over to Associate Head Coach Steve Swanson, and O'Brien felt those were very capable hands. "The first thing I did when I was offered this job was call Steve in Scotland, and see if he was ready to come back to the states. At this level there are too many good coaches and too much great preparation and a lot of games on TV and film exchange and there's no secrets, and it comes down to teaching and execution, and we're fortunate that we have a guy that's been a head coach at the professional level who doesn't pee down his leg and keeps things going."
Swanson, who coached against NAU last year when Joe O'Brien was serving a suspension, was well prepped as NAU was his scout to begin with. "It seemed like it was going into overtime and I was hoping that wasn't the case because those two overtimes were long and painful last year." Swanson also felt the large crowd was key down the stretch. "We were joking in the locker room that Donnie's family came, but there's no question that during that comeback when Matt raises up to shoot a three and Austin raises up to shoot a three and they get that round of applause when it goes through the net. That appreciation that they feel when they work hard really drove us to get the gap closer."
While Landry had a career day, going 12-for-19 from the field for his 30, ISU limited the damage elsewhere, allowing just 3-of-11 shooting from three-point range, and only Nathan Geiser hit double-figures, and that was mostly from hitting 5-of-6 from the line, all from the technicals. The Bengals, along with Morgan's 21, got 10 from Stucki. Idaho State also outrebounded the league's top rebounding team 32-26, getting 18 second chance points.
The Bengals are now just a half-game back of Northern Arizona overall, and Idaho State, Northern Arizona, Weber State, and Portland State are all sitting with two league losses, meaning the race is for anyone at this point. The Bengals now have a week where they face Weber State twice, once on Thursday night in Ogden and then again on Saturday night in Holt Arena at 7:05 pm.
NOTES: Idaho State improved to 8-0 when outrebounding their opponents ... ISU's sophomore class accounted for 46 points and 19 of ISU's 23 field goals ... Idaho State had just 10 turnovers ... After shooting just .296 in the first half, Idaho State shot .556 in the second, and .571 from three-point range ... Morgan joined Stucki and Chron Tatum as 20-point scorers this season for ISU ... the win ended a four-game NAU winning streak over Idaho State ... the game featured 14 ties and five lead changes ... it was ISU's first win of the season when trailing at the half and at the 10-minute mark, and it was ISU's first win under O'Brien in which they trailed with one minute left.
