Jan. 30, 2009
Final Stats
Pocatello, ID --- Amorrow Morgan and Matt Stucki each had a chance to win the game in regulation, and Daviin Davis hit a couple of big threes in the final minutes as Weber State came back from a 13-point second half deficit to force overtime and eventually pull out a 76-67 overtime win that propelled the Wildcats into first place as Portland State lost at Montana.
The Bengals got a tremendous effort from Matt Stucki, who scored 29 points, 20 in the second half, nearly willing ISU to a win. A three by Stucki with 13:42 to go gave ISU a 49-36 but the Wildcats made a strong push quickly, cutting the lead to two after a jumper by Daviin Davis. Amorrow Morgan hit a pair of free throws after a Davis foul at 5:22, and then Stucki responded with his fifth three of the night to give ISU a seemingly comfortable 60-53 lead with 4:15 to go.
However, Davis answered right back with a three to cut it to four, and then after Stucki made it 62-56 with a jumper, Weber reeled off seven straight points. They got two from freshman Damian Lillard, and then Davis hit another three with 2:17 left to make it 62-61. Stucki then missed a three, and Kellen McCoy, a 5-6 guard who led Weber with eight rebounds, got the board and raced in for a layup and a one-point lead.
Morgan got fouled with 14.5 left, and made the first to tie it, and missed the second, but Stucki forced a jump ball. Matt then inbounded to Amorrow, who drew a double-team, kicked it out the Stucki, whose straight on three bounded away, and to overtime the game went, where it was all Weber State.
Steve Panos scored the first three points before Morgan answered with a layup to make it 66-65. After a Lillard basket, Stucki hit a pair of free throws with 2:20 left to make it 68-67, but ISU would not score again. Morgan missed a shot to give ISU the lead, and Lillard hit a three on the other end for a 71-67 lead with 1:35 left. Morgan then committed his eighth turnover of the night, and WSU would hit 5-of-6 from the line in the final 1:13 of the game.
"The bottom line is that Weber State played like they wanted it more," said head coach Joe O'Brien. "We just had another one of those stretches, and it cost us. It was hard because some kids just disappeared and Matt had to really take over the scoring load."
"It was a situation where we knew what they were going to do, and they knew what we were going to do, so it came down to basketball players making basketball plays, and they made more of them in the end, so you have to give them credit."
Stucki's 29 was his career-high, bettering the 26 he scored against Portland State last year. Only Morgan joined him in double-figures with 11, and Felix Caspari grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds as ISU outrebounded Weber State 37-29. For the Wildcats Lillard hit for 22, and Kyle Bullinger, Panos, and Daviis all scored 13. McCoy led the `Cats with eight rebounds as Weber State outshot ISU .472 to .462, but that was a product of holding ISU to just 1-of-8 in the extra session, as ISU was 23-of-44, a .523 clip in regulation.
The two teams now play in Ogden on Saturday night in the return matchup at 7:05 pm.
NOTES: Stucki's five threes tied a career-high ... ISU had 20 turnovers, leading to 22 WSU points ... ISU blocked five shots ...ISU dropped to 1-4 in overtime this season.
