Feb. 14, 2008
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- First, the bad news. Portland State used a long hot streak in the second half, pushing a 12-point lead to 30, getting 20 points from Deonte Huff and 18 from Jeremiah Dominguez as the Vikings remained solidly in first place in the Big Sky Conference with an 81-58 win over the Bengals. The good news, the Bengals remained in third place in the loss column as Northern Arizona, Montana, and Montana State all have five losses.
In a bit of good news, Weber State lost to Eastern Washington, ISU's next opponent, 69-57, keeping the second place Wildcats just one game ahead of the four-way tie, and creating a scenario where an ISU win on Saturday coupled with a Weber State loss at Portland would put ISU in a tie for second place.
First things first, as the Vikings opened up a two-game lead in the conference with five games remaining. The Vikings, who clinched the conference's first tournament berth, opened the ballgame on an 11-0 run before ISU finally got on the board with 16:33 remaining in the first on a Matt Stucki layup. However, the Vikings rolled quickly to a 30-12 lead at the 8:15 mark, getting six threes in the process. The Bengals did show resolve, cutting the lead to 10 late in the half before the Vikings got a Mickey Polis three, their seventh of the first half in the final minute for a 36-23 halftime lead.
The Bengals matched the Vikings bucket for bucket early in the second half, and were down just 10 at 43-33 before PSU went on a roll, shooting off a 24-4 run over a 6:56 stretch to make it 67-37 midway through the second half, and it was all academic from there.
"Portland State is the team in this league playing the best basketball....this is their seventh straight win. Anytime you win seven in a row in conference play, you have a couple of things going for you, namely you have talent, you have some depth, and you are playing really well, and that's what they are doing," said head coach Joe O'Brien. "I told the kids we failed to play basketball on my terms two games in a row. We let them have to ball wherever they wanted and we have to get that fixed between now and Saturday night."
Idaho State was behind the eight-ball as Donnie Carson, who was second on the team in scoring in conference play at 11.4 points per game, has been ill on the trip and played just seven minutes. Also, Demetrius Monroe was under the weather and played only 14 minutes, forcing ISU to go with freshman Tom Taylor for his first extended action.
Austin Kilpatrick led ISU with 14 points, hitting 4-of-7 three-pointers. Matt Stucki added 13 and Amorrow Morgan chipped in 11. For the Vikings, Huff and Dominguez were the only players in double-figures, but 10 Vikes scored in the game, and PSU outrebounded ISU by 16, 41-25. PSU limited ISU to just seven assists and 18 turnovers.
The Bengals will head to Cheney, Washington looking to keep the Eagles at bay, who improved to 5-8 in the conference, and they now sit in seventh place just two games behind for the four teams tied for third.
NOTES: The Bengals have lost five straight to Portland State ... Steve Anderson registered his first career blocked shot ... Matt Stucki and Demetrius Monroe tied for the ISU lead in rebounds with four ... ISU trailed the final 38:56 ... ISU will now attempt to end a four-year losing skid in Cheney.
