POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State Bengals fell to the UCF Knights 67-50 in Orlando, Florida Tuesday afternoon.
The Bengals fall to 5-5 on the year and have a final non-conference contest tomorrow vs the Loyola of Chicago Ramblers.
"After a really rough first half, I thought we did a much better job in the second of taking care of the ball and defending," remarked Head Coach Seton Sobolewski. "Central Florida is a much older, bigger athletic team than us and I think we've learned a lot from this game that we can take moving forward."
The First half went all UCF's way at the end of 20, the Knights had scored 44 points on 12-of-32 shooting from the floor with 18 made free throws off of 12 Bengal fouls.
The bright spots in the first half were Callie Bourne and Laura Bello. Bourne finished the half with nine points, going two-of-three from three-point range. Bello, as per usual, put in work on the glass grabbing eight first-half boards, four offensive and four defensive.
The Bengals headed into the locker room staring down a 19-point deficit and a choice to make.
Instead of letting the Knights truly run away with it, the Bengals came out furious in the 3rd quarter, not rolling over, instead going on a nine to-two run over the final five minutes of the period led by Finley Garnett, Bello and Bourne. The trio combined for 13 points and the Bengals cut the Knights's lead to 15 headed into the final 10 minutes.
In the first half, the Bengals struggled to keep the ball, turning it over 14 times. ISU significantly cleaned it up in the second half, only allowing seven turnovers in the final 20 minutes of play.
The Bengals never gave up, playing rotations of Bengal newcomers, ISU went toe-to-toe with the veteran UCF squad and finished the final period with 10 points to the Knight's 12.
While the Bengals fell 67-50, the second-half performance of the team showed ISU's ability to overcome adversity and make adjustments.
Headed into the game, the Bengals knew that the Knights would be a tough opponent on the glass. The UCF knights are one of the top rebounding teams in the country and are led by Destiny Thomas who ranks No. 5 nationally in overall rebounding and No. 2 in offensive.
At the end of the game, the stats showed this with UCF winning the rebound margin 49-38. Laura Bello was a force though, leading both teams with 13 total boards on the game, tying No. 2 in the nation Thomas with six offensive boards.
The Bengal defense continued to show why they are top 25 in the nation, holding the Knights to just 31.3 percent from the floor. On the year, the Bengals now have an opponent shooting percentage of .342.
Callie Bourne led the Bengals with 13 points on four-of-nine shooting with three treys. She also added six boards, three assists and a steal.
The Bengals as a team had 21 turnovers and forced the knights into 17. ISU won the scoring battle though limiting the Knights to 19 points scored off of those turnovers while the Bengals scored 22.
The Bengals have one more in Orlando against the Loyola of Chicago Ramblers. Tip is set for 12:00 PM tomorrow and a live stat link will be available on ISUBengals.com
