March 1, 2008
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- Idaho State University got outscored in the paint 32-14, and that paved the way for Northern Arizona to take a 76-53 decision over Idaho State in the season finale, a result that was tempered by the fact that Portland State beat down Montana 108-56 in Missoula, giving the Bengals the #4 seed in the tournament, and giving ISU a first round home game for the first time since the 2004 season.
The Bengals will get a rematch with the University of Montana by virtue of Montana State's loss to Northern Colorado on Saturday night. Both Idaho State and Montana finished with identical 8-8 records, but ISU owns the tiebreaker by virtue of their 69-67 win over Northern Arizona. The two teams split their season series, with ISU winning 56-54 in Missoula on a basket with 3.6 left, and Montana winning 72-63 in overtime last Sunday. That was the third overtime game in the last four meetings between the two teams, and the quarterfinal matchup is the second straight between the two.
The Bengals ended up 8-8 as they allowed NAU to close the half strong. Down just 32-28 after an Amorrow Morgan three with 1:11 to go in the half, the Lumberjacks (20-10, 11-5) got a a short jumper from Zach Filzen, and then after a missed three by Matt Stucki, Kyle Landry dropped in a basket just before the half ended for a 36-28 lead.
NAU then made quick work of things in the second half. After ISU answered a pair of free throws with four points of their own to make the lead six, Northern Arizona got eight straight points to go up 46-32 on a Ryan McCurdy layup with 13:23 left. Donnie Carson responded with a basket, and then Logan Kinghorn dropped a three pointer to quickly bring the lead back to nine, but back-to-back threes by Zarko Comagic and Filzen hurt ISU, and then Filzen added a basket and then another three, and it was all academic from there.
The Bengals couldn't stop the Lumberjacks hot shooting, as they hit .538 for the game, shooting over 50% in both halves. The Bengals were also outrebounded 35-28. ISU was led by Amorrow Morgan again, who scored 12, and Matt Stucki chipped in 10. Chron Tatum saw action in 27 minutes and was ISU's top rebounder with five. For NAU, Kyle Landry, who scored 30 in Pocatello, had 14 to lead NAU this time around. Comagic had 12, Nathan Geiser had 11, and Zach Filzen added 10. Landry also had seven boards to lead NAU.
Ticket information for Saturday's quarterfinal game against Montana will be available on Monday at www.isubengals.com, or fans can contact the ticket office at 208-282-FANS.
NOTES: Lucas Steijn, who suffered a broken nose against Sacramento State, played 11 minutes ... Tom Taylor saw 18 minutes of action, scoring two points ... ISU recorded five more blocked shots ... Amorrow Morgan had six assists ... ISU ends the regular season averaging just 59.6 points per game ... ISU's last home conference tournament game was in 2004 against Montana in the quarterfinals, where they beat Montana 74-73.
