March 8, 2008
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- Logan Kinghorn picked a good time to post a season-high 17 points, because fourth-seeded Idaho State needed just about all of them. Kinghorn posted a double-double, and Idaho State had a near perfect second half in coming back from a six-point halftime deficit to defeat the fifth-seeded Montana Grizzlies 67-65 in another thriller between the two teams in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Intel Big Sky Conference Tournament. Idaho State now advances to the semifinals where they will take on host and #1 seeded Portland State at the Rose Garden on Tuesday night at 9:00 pm Mountain Time in a game broadcast on Altitude.
The win marked ISU's first tournament win under Joe O'Brien, and it was the first for the program since defeating Montana 74-73 in Reed Gym in 2004. The Bengals also improved to 5-0 all-time in home conference tournament games.
Idaho State (12-18) was able to bounce back from a halftime deficit for only the second time all year, and they needed a near perfect half to do so. The Bengals shot 14-of-18 from the field in the second half after going just 10-for-28 in the first half. The Bengals were down 32-26 at the break, but ISU opened the half on a 9-2 run, matching Montana's 9-2 run to open the first half.
For there it was a see-saw affair, as Montana jumped back up by four on a short jumper and then a three-pointer from Jordan Hasquet. The Bengals then went on a 12-2 run, capped by back-to-back three-pointers from Austin Kilpatrick to make it 47-41, and ISU would eventually push the lead to 56-48 on a Matt Stucki free throw with 4:13 to go, but as could be expected, the Griz didn't go down without a fight.
First Ryan Staudacher hit a three off a set play, and then after a missed ISU shot, Matt Martin drilled a three with a man in his face and suddenly it was 56-54 with 3:10 to go. ISU responded with as Amorrow Morgan scored on a three-point play, and ISU eventually got the lead back eight after two Logan Kinghorn free throws, but again, Montana would not go away.
First, Andrew Strait hit a layup with 49 seconds left, and after a made ISU free throw, Strait made another basket to cut it to five. ISU then inexplicably turned the ball over in the front court, and Martin drilled another three with 13.1 left to make it a 64-62 game, but Matt Stucki made a pair of free throws to make it a four-point game, and Martin, who finished with 16 to lead Montana, missed, and Demetrius Monroe grabbed the rebound and hit one free throw, rendering Cameron Rundles' three-pointer at the buzzer moot.
"I thought we defended the one-on-one much better than we did two weeks ago," said Idaho State head coach Joe O'Brien. "We didn't get beat on the bounce. They made some tough shots. Give Montana credit, guys like Martin and Strait and Hasquet played solid."
ISU couldn't have done it without senior Logan Kinghorn, who recorded his fourth double-double of the year with 17 points and 10 rebounds, adding an assist and a steal in 29 minutes. "He was big. He was really, really big for us. We just as a team were more determined as a team tonight than a few weeks ago, and we saw the result of that," added O'Brien.
For the Bengals, they earn themselves a shot at top-seeded Portland State, who swept ISU in the regular season. The Bengals will take on the Vikings at the Rose Garden, home of the Portland Trailblazers. The #1 seed earns the right to host the tournament, but PSU's normal home, the Stott Center, is too small to host the tournament. The game is at 9:00 pm Mountain time, and it will follow #3 Weber State taking on #2 Northern Arizona at 6:30 pm Mountain Time.
Along with Kinghorn's 17 points, Matt Stucki and Austin Kilpatrick scored 11, and Donnie Carson, who was scoreless in the first half, added 10 before getting ejected with just over two minutes left in the game. He was assessed a flagrant foul and ejected on a play where Matt Martin of the Griz earned a technical.
For Montana, Martin had 16 off the bench, including five threes, and Ryan Staudacher added 14, and Strait chipped in 13 in his final game. ISU outrebounded Montana 36-24, and no Grizzly had more than four boards. ISU shot .522 for the game, and Montana was just .421, although they were a stellar 12-of-27 from three-point range.
NOTES: Strait ended his Grizzly career as the #5 scorer in school history, and Martin ended his as the #10 assist man in school history ... ISU turned the ball over just four times in the second half ... ISU was just 1-17 trailing at the half, having also defeated Northern Arizona after trailing 31-27 at the break ... ISU is 7-0 this season when one of their players posts a double-double ... keeping with the tradition of the series, the last five games have been decided by a pair of two-point games, and three overtime games.
