March 12, 2008
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- The #4 Idaho State Bengals put up a valiant effort in the Rose Garden on Tuesday night, but Portland State's firepower and depth were just too much for ISU to handle as the top-seeded Portland State Vikings improved to 22-9 with a 72-61 win over the Bengals in the semifinals of the 2008 Intel Big Sky Conference Tournament. PSU will take on #2 Northern Arizona, a 75-70 winner over #3 Weber State in the title game at 7:00 pm on Wednesday on ESPN2.
Idaho State got a huge effort from Matt Stucki with 22 points, but ISU could never quite get into the game in the second half. Down just five at 33-28 at the break, the Vikings scored the first five points of the second half before ISU finally got on the board with a couple of free throws by Lucas Steijn. However, PSU scored another five quick points, give the Vikings a 10-2 opening run, pushing the lead to 13.
ISU battled back, and after Logan Kinghorn elevated in the lane for a jumper, and then Austin Kilpatrick nailed a three from beyond the NBA arc to cut the lead down to eight at 48-40 with 11:50 to go, but PSU answered right back with a retaliatory three by Brian Curtis, who just came into the game, and ISU would only whittle the lead under double-digits one more time, at 51-42 when Matt Stucki rang home a short jumper, but PSU pulled away.
Stucki was nearly unstoppable with a solid array of baskets in giving him his second 20-point game against Portland State this season. However, there was no real slowing down of the Vikings, who have now defeated 13 straight conference opponents, a streak that started on January 13 with a 71-61 win over the Bengals in Holt Arena.
Conference Player of the Year Jeremiah Dominguez quietly hurt ISU in the first half with 14 points, including two threes in a wild sequence that spanned about four seconds. First, he hit a three to make it 7-3 PSU, and then he stole the inbounds pass and shot in nearly one motion, hitting another three before anyone really knew what happened, giving the Vikes a quick 10-3 lead.
While Dominguez did most of his damage in the first half, Deonte Huff just did damage. The senior tossed in two dunks and cashed in on some splendid passing by Portland State for a 20-point night. Dominguez ended the game with 16 points, and Andre Murray added 10, but PSU got contributions from all over as PSU hit on 58.8% of their shots in the second half.
For ISU head coach Joe O'Brien, who took ISU to the semifinals for the first time since the 2004 season, depth was the key issue for ISU against the Vikings. "We didn't have the depth they did. They wore us down. In the first half, we defended pretty well. In the second half, they shot the ball 58 percent because we just didn't have that same juice in our legs. They can score in a variety of ways. I think we all understand that our team is somewhat limited in how we score. We have to work a whole lot harder to get two points than they do."
Logan Kinghorn, one of two ISU's seniors that played his final game, agreed on that assessment. "I felt like they got a lot of hands on balls, kind of tipped it around. If it wasn't one guy coming up with it, it was another. They were all over the place." Kinghorn left the indelible image of the season for the Bengals, saluting and waving to the crowd in celebration at the end of ISU's 67-65 win over Montana in the Big Sky Quarterfinals.
NOTES: Matt Stucki ended the season as the team's leading scorer with an 11.9 scoring average, which was the second lowest total by a leader in the last 55 years, behind Scott Henry's 11.7 average in 2003 ... Stucki also finished with 110 assists, and he combined with Amorrow Morgan for 200 total ... Logan Kinghorn's 157 rebounds led the team as well ... ISU dropped to 0-7 against the top seed in the Big Sky Tournament ... Austin Kilpatrick ended the season with 99 career three-pointers.
