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POCATELLO, Idaho- After playing five of its last six games on the road, the Idaho State men's basketball team returns to Holt Arena for its first home conference game on Jan. 5, against Montana State. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on Altitude television and heard live on 930 AM with
Jerry Miller and
Brad Bugger calling the action.
Montana State leads the series 100-79. The two teams split the series last year with ISU winning 50-45 in Pocatello and losing 84-68 in Bozeman. The Bengals last win at Montana State was a 63-56 win on Feb. 19, 2009
Montana State is 6-7 and 1-1 in conference play. Xavier Blount leads MSU in scoring at 12.1 points a game overall and 14.5 points a game in the two conference games. Christian Moon leads the Bobcats in scoring in Big Sky play as he is averaging 20.5 points a contest. Montana State is averaging 73.6 points a game and allowing 72.7 points a contest. The team is shooting 43.1 percent from the field and 46.4 percent in league play.
Since the 2006-07 season, Idaho State is 5-0 in Big Sky Conference home openers. The last conference home opener loss was a 107-106 loss in the 2005-06 season to Sacramento State. Last year Idaho State defeated Sacramento State 68-63 in overtime. In the 2009-10 season ISU beat Montana 67-65. The Bengals have also defeated Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington twice in conference home openers.
O'Brien Resigns; Martin Named Interim Head Coach
On Monday, Dec. 19, Idaho State Head Coach Joe O'Brien announced his resignation as coach of the Bengals effective immediately. Assistant coach Deane Martin was named Interim Head Coach for the remainder of the season. O'Brien was named head coach in 2006. This is Martin's first year at Idaho State.
The Week That Was
Idaho State started out this week with a 57-55 win at Northern Colorado. It was the Bengals first road win of the season and it snapped Northern Colorado's 14-game home conference winning streak.
Chase Grabau led the Bengals with 18 points and
Kenny McGowen had 16 points. ISU forced 17 turnovers and only committed seven.
The Do It All Player
The start of Big Sky Conference play has meant
Chase Grabau has raised his game to another level. Grabau had a career-high 31 points at Weber State and he then led the Bengals with 18 points in a win at Northern Colorado. He currently leads the team in scoring at 12.4 points a game and he is second in rebounding at 5.4 boards a contest while playing a team-best 35.6 minutes a contest. He has 52 assists to only 18 turnovers and he has a team-best 25 steals. He ranks 24th in the country in assist to turnover ratio at 2.71.
