Bengals Travel to Cheney to Take On League Leading Eagles

Pocatello, ID- The Idaho State men's basketball team will be back on the road this week as they will be going up against the Eastern Washington University Eagles on Thursday, January 26th at 7 p.m. at Reese Court in Cheney, Washington. Over the last 20 seasons (since 2003) the Bengals have gone 11-28 against the Eagles in 39 total contests. The Bengals have not found much success over recent years, losing the last 12 of 15 matchups when squaring off with the Eagles.

Eastern Washington will enter the game with an 14-7 record on the season and 8-0 in Big Sky Conference play, winning their latest matchups against Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado last week. The Eagles are averaging 75.7 points per game on 47.8 percent shooting from the field (2^nd in the Big Sky) and 35.3 percent from three. The Eagles have been the hottest team in the league the last few weeks, beginning conference play undefeated at 8-0 and winners of their last 10 games in a row.

Idaho State will look to hand Eastern Washington their first conference loss of the year behind their lock-down defense. The Bengals' defense has been shutting their opponents down this year holding opponents to just 30.9 percent from three-point territory (1^st in the Big Sky), 43.6 percent shooting from the field (3^rd in the Big Sky), and average 6.2 steals per game (3^rd in the Big Sky).

The tip will be at 7 p.m. at Reese Court. Jerry Miller will call the game on KISU.

Eastern Washington (14-7)
Home (7-1), Away (5-5), Neutral (2-1)
ISU Recent Series vs. EWU
2/12/2022                 A                     L          75-72
1/24/2022                 H                     L          89-63
3/5/2021                    A                     L          75-62
3/3/2021                    A                     W        68-63
3/5/2020                    A                     L          100-77
12/30/2019               H                     W        75-69
 
Portland State Recap
The Idaho State men's basketball team went up against the Portland State Vikings tonight. They fought hard all game long, however the Vikings came out on top, defeating the Bengals 72-65. The Bengals fall to 7-13 on the season & 4-3 in Big Sky Conference play. After the win Portland State improves to 9-11 on the year & 3-4 in conference play.
 
The Bengals and Vikings stayed within reach of each other all first half as we saw the Bengals go up to start the game and then the Vikings begin to take control as they stretched the lead to 10 points with just under a minute remaining in the first half. The Bengals went into the break trialing by eight, 38-30. The Bengals came out came out strong to start the second half as they cut the Vikings lead down to just three. The Vikings however, remained calm and responded as they closed out the Bengals over the final 10 minutes of the game and took home the win, 72-65.
 
Brayden Parker and Miguel Tomley led the Bengals tonight as each finished with 17 points. Parker also ripped down a team-high six rebounds, two assists, and the Bengals' lone block on the evening. Brock Mackenzie tallied nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and three rebounds, and we saw Jay Nagle put up seven points on 3-of-4 shooting and three rebounds as well.
 
The Bengals finished the game shooting 52.9 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from deep finishing 6-of-16 from three-point land as a squad. The Bengals tallied 8 assists, 22 rebounds, and 8 steals. Portland State finished with shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from beyond the arc.
 
The Idaho State men's basketball team will be on the road for their next two games as they take on Eastern Washington University next Thursday Saturday, January 26th at 7 p.m. in Cheney, Washington and then the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho on Saturday January, 28th at 3 p.m.
 
The Returning 6
0    AJ Burgin        G    So.    6-3    205    San Diego, Calif.
2    Tommy Ball    G    Fr.    6-0    175    El Dorado Hills, Calif.    
5    Austin Smellie    G    Sr.    6-5    200    Preston, Idaho
13    Daxton Carr    F    Jr.    6-7    215    Pocatello, Idaho    
22    Jared Rodriguez    F    Sr.    6-8    215    Glendale, Ariz.    
25    Brayden Parker    C    Jr.    6-8    250    Preston, Idaho        

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1    Jay Nagle        F    Sr.    6-9    215    Vacaville, Calif.        
3    Ronnie Stapp    G    Jr.    6-6    185    Bakersfield, Calif.        
10    Miguel Tomley    G    So.    6-3    200    Surrey, BC        
11    Brock Mackenzie    G    Sr.    6-2    185    Sammamish, Wash.    
12    Turner Livingston    F    Fr.    6-4    195    Spokane, Wash.        
14    Jordan Hansen    G    Fr.    6-6    215    Seattle, Wash.      
 20    Briggs Ranstrom    F    Fr.    6-6    205    Eagle, Idaho
23    Maleek Arington    G    Fr.    6-3    200    Lake Tapps, Wash.    
24    Ed Chang        F    Jr.    6-8    215    Papillion, Neb.      
 32    Kolby Lee        C    Sr.    6-9    240    Meridian, Idaho    
44    Louis Stormark    C    Fr.    6-9    250    Alleroed, Denmark    
 
Bengal Bites

• Brock Mackenzie is currently 12^th in the Big Sky in three-pointers made (39) and 10^th in the Big Sky three-pointers per game (1.95)
• Miguel Tomley is currently 13^th in the Big Sky in both three-pointers made (37) and three-pointers per game (1.85)
• The Bengals' defense is currently 1^st in the Big Sky and 64^th in the country in three-point percentage defense, holding opponents to just 30.9 percent from three this season
• The Bengals' defense ranks 3^rd in the Big Sky in steals per game (6.2)