Box Score
Photo Gallery
POCATELLO, Idaho – Kenny McGowen has a knack for coming through in the clutch for the Idaho State men's basketball team. Two weeks ago the Bengal senior converted a four-point play with eight seconds left to lift Idaho State to a 68-67 win at Sacramento State. On Saturday, McGowen followed that with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Idaho State to a 64-62 victory over Big Sky leader Weber State. The Bengals are now 5-4 in conference play while Weber State dropped to 8-1.
Idaho State is now on a three-game winning streak for the first time since the 2008-09 season.
With 20 seconds left in regulation Weber State led 62-61 and
Chase Grabau grabbed the rebound of a missed Damian Lillard 3-pointer. A few passes later, Grabau found McGowen in the corner where he nailed the game-winning bucket in front of a season-high crowd of 3,309.
McGowen led the Bengals in scoring, shooting 7-for-14 from the field for a game-high 19 points. His final game-clinching 3-pointer was his fourth of the night. Andre' Hatchett added 12 points and six rebounds, followed by
Chase Grabau who added 10 and eight rebounds.
Abner Moreira pulled down 11 rebounds.
Idaho State shot 42 percent from the field and only turned the ball over 12 times while Weber State shot 45.8 percent and also only had 12 turnovers. Both teams had 31 rebounds. There were five ties and nine lead changes in the game. The biggest lead of the game was nine points for the Bengals at 47-38 with 12:18 to play while Weber State's biggest lead was four points early in the first half.
Idaho State led 29-25 at halftime and for the first 14 minutes of the second half until the Wildcats Kyle Bullinger hit a 3-pointer to give WSU a 56-55 lead. Both teams traded leads until McGowen hit the game-winning bucket at the end.
Idaho State (7-14, 5-4) returns to the court on Thursday Feb. 2 at Montana State. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. The Bengals then play at Montana on Monday Feb. 6.
Kenny McGowen Quotes
“I felt it. As soon as I let it go and I heard the buzzer I knew it was happening. That is a big one to be here at the Division I level. Weber State has an awesome team and the best player in the league. That is big. For us to come out with this win is huge.”
On Guarding Lillard
“When you play against somebody like that you have to have respect for him but you can't fear him. Tonight I wanted to step up my game. Last time I backed off and let him have too much. I wanted to make him work a little harder then he usually does.”
“It is great. We still have a lot of basketball left. This is a great shot but after tonight we have to get ready for Montana State. They came in here and stole one from us last time. That is where our minds have to go. This is a total team effort. I hit the game-winning shot but if it weren't for Chase giving me that pass I wouldn't have hit it.”
“You just have to play. We have the experience out there. He gave us a chance to make a play and that is what we did. That is what he has been preaching to us for us to go out and make plays.”
Deane Martin Quotes
“We said let's not make too much of the game. It is a great opportunity for us. They are at the top of the league and running away with it. We said they could watch all the film they want on us and scout us all they want to scout us but they can't take away us playing hard. They can't take away our energy and they can't take away our heart. I told them you have 40 minutes and you have a great opportunity. We came out and put a good plan together.”
On the last possession
“There are two-ways to do it. At first I yelled out to Mel (
Melvin Morgan) I wanted a timeout. Once he got it in I knew we had to let him go now. We can't stop the game. One you don't want them to come out and set up their defense. They might set up a zone and we will draw up a man play. Then I was yelling to kick it into our drag. We knew if we could get it into Kenny's hand or Mel's hand we could get off a ball screen and make something happen. We got fortunate that Kenny got loose to get the shot at the end. You had to let players be players and let them make plays.”
On Guarding Lillard
“We did a good job with him. We knew we weren't going to shut him out. We knew if we could keep going over ball screens and making him work that we would be good.”
On the first-half press
“In the first half our press was really good. We knew we were going to try and get in it early. We knew we had to get to the basket early on these guys.”
On the Bengals Defense
We knew if we valued possessions and got it to the rack that we could come down and guard them and get to the shooters. But the thing we had to do was be smart offensively to give our defense the chance.
Game Notes
- The win over Weber State is the first win over the Wildcats since a 63-59 win in Pocatello on Feb. 2, 2008. Weber State had won seven straight.
- Idaho State has won four of their seven games by five points or less.
- The 3,309 fans in attendance was the most fans to watch a Bengal home game since 4,374 fans watched BYU vs. Idaho State in Holt Arena on Nov. 29, 2008.
