Pocatello, ID- The Bengals men's basketball team took on rivals, the Idaho Vandals Thursday evening. The Bengals and Vandals battled all first half as the Vandals went up five early on, however behind Brayden Parker's 11 first half points the Bengals went into the halftime break leading by six, 38-32. The Vandals stayed within reach of the Bengals all second half until with just 10 minutes remaining where Idaho State went on an 11-4 run to extend their lead to 15 with just three minutes left in the game. The Bengals used this late game run to down the Vandals by a score of 65-55 and take home the first King Spud trophy since 1979. After the win, the Bengals move to 10-19 on the season and 7-9 in conference play. The University of Idaho Vandals will drop to 10-19 on the season and 4-12 in the Big Sky after the loss.
Brayden Parker was the Bengals leading scorer on the night as he put up 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, nine rebounds, two assists, and two blocks.
Brock Mackenzie tallied 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc, two rebounds, and three assists.
Austin Smellie finished the game with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field, six rebounds, and three assists.
Kolby Lee provided a big boost off the bench tonight as he put up 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, two rebounds, and one block in just eight minutes played.
Miguel Tomley also chipped in on the night with nine points, five rebounds, two steals, and one assist.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from deep making 4-of-13 shots from three-point territory. The Bengals tallied 14 assists, 35 rebounds, 6 blocks, and 3 steals. The University of Idaho finished the game shooting 41.5 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from distance.
After
Austin Smellie's 34 minutes played tonight he now becomes the longest tenured men's basketball player in Idaho State history. Austin has appeared in 140 total games for the orange and black and has played a total of 3,661 minutes. Both of which are now Bengal career records. Austin still has two more regular season games and the Big Sky tournament left to play.Â
The Idaho State men's basketball team will be playing host to Eastern Washington University in Reed Gym Saturday, February 25
th at 6 p.m. for their final home game of the 2022-23 campaign. We will be recognizing our five seniors,
Kolby Lee,
Jay Nagle,
Brock Mackenzie,
Jared Rodriguez, and
Austin Smellie for senior night prior to tip off.
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