Bengals Play at Eastern Washington on Thursday

Game Notes | Audio | Video | Live Stats

POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State men's basketball team closes out the 2013-14 regular season this week with games at Eastern Washington on Thursday, March 6 and at Portland State, Saturday, March 8. The Bengals still have a shot at the conference tournament if they win both games. Thursday's game at Eastern Washington tips off at 7 p.m. (MST) and the Portland State game tips off at 8 p.m. (MST). Jerry Miller will call both games on 930 CBS Sports Radio and Rock 102.5. To follow the game online with live stats, audio and video log onto isubengals.com.

Eastern Washington leads the series, 40-28. The Bengals 83-72 win on January 4 in Holt Arena snapped an eight-game losing streak to EWU.  ISU's last win in Cheney was 65-63 on March 2, 2003.

Portland State leads the series 27-18. ISU has won the last two meetings, with both wins being in Holt Arena. The last Bengal win in Portland was, 84-79, on February 10, 2011.

Eastern Washington is 14-15 and 9-9 in Big Sky Conference play. Tyler Harvey leads the Eagles in scoring at 21.8 points a game. He is shooting 45.5 percent from the field. Eastern Washington is scoring 76.1 points a game but giving up 75.1 points. As a team, Eastern Washington is averaging 36.7 rebounds and shooting 45.6 percent from the field.

Portland State is 14-13 and 9-9 in Big Sky Conference play. The Vikings are scoring 73.3 points and giving up 72.2 points a game. Tim Douglas is scoring 12.9 points and DeShaun Wiggins is netting 12.8 points a game.  PSU is shooting 47 percent from the field and averaging 30.6 rebounds a game.

Scoring 70 Points
When the Bengals score 70 points or more this season the team is 9-3 compared to 2-13 when scoring 69 points or less. Last year, ISU was 4-2 when scoring 70 points or more.

Minuteman
For seven straight games Tomas Sanchez has played every minute of the the game. He has played the entire game 10 times this year and played 37-39 minutes in 12 other games. Last year he only played 37-39 minutes in a game four times. He never played the entire game last season.

Upward Trend
For the first time since the 2008-09 season, the Bengals have 11 wins and no matter the result of the final two games, ISU will not reach the 20 loss mark. Over the last four seasons, ISU has been 6-24 (2012-13), 9-21 (2011-12), 9-20 (2010-11) and 7-22 (2009-10).

In the Last Meeting vs. Portland State
The nine blocks by the Bengals vs. Portland State on January 2, was the most since ISU had 10 in a 50-45 win over Montana State on Jan. 24, 2011.  ISU shot 64.3 percent  (9-14) from the 3-point line in the 87-76 win over PSU, the best mark since ISU shot .667 percent (6-9) in a 79-64 loss at Montana on Feb. 21, 2009. The .565 field goal percentage was the best since ISU shot .638 percent last year in the 87-51 victory over Montana State on Feb. 14, 2013.