POCATELLO, Idaho – The Bengals men's basketball team hosted their rivals, the Idaho Vandals, for the first of two meetings this season. The Bengals have defeated the Vandals the last six times in a row, and have not lost to Idaho in Pocatello since 2017.
Idaho State and Idaho fought all first half, the Vandals would lead for the entirety of the half, but Idaho State would not allow them to grow their lead to more than seven points. To end the first half the Bengals were able to close the gap on UI, after two made
Brayden Parker free-throw's and two defensive stops followed by a difficult
Maleek Arington floater to send the Bengals into the halftime break trailing by just two, 28-30.
Idaho State was able to secure their first lead of the game early in the second half at 33-32 with 17:18 to play. The Bengals would not look back after this, as they would proceed to go on a 14-0 run to extend their lead to 17 points, 57-40, with 5:42 to play. The Vandals would not go down without a fight, attempting to come back, ending the game on a 14-5 run. However, the Bengals would thwart off the Vandals comeback hopes and secure the win 64-59. With the win, Idaho State moves to 7-11 overall and 2-3 in Big Sky play. With the loss, Idaho drops to 7-10 overall and 1-3 in Big Sky play.
The Bengals had four players finish with double-figures tonight.
Brayden Parker led all scorers in this one with 18 points, a season-high eight rebounds, three blocks, one assist, and one steal.
Maleek Arington would tally 14 points, six rebounds, and four assists, and fellow guard,
Miguel Tomley, finished tonight with 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field, two rebounds, and one assist.
Kiree Huie put up 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, four rebounds, three blocks, and one assist, and the final starter for Idaho State,
Isaiah Griffin, recorded three points, four rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block. Coming in off the bench
Trent Johnson put up five points, four rebounds, and one block in 20 minutes of play, and
AJ Burgin recorded four assists and two rebounds in 16 minutes of action.
Briggs Ranstrom would also tack on one steal and one rebound in three minutes of play for ISU.
With his 18 points tonight,
Brayden Parker (1,082) moves past Matt Stucki (1,079) for 20
th place on the ISU All-Time Scoring leaderboard. Parker also now sits at 97 career blocks. Just two blocks shy of tying Jeff Cook for 4
th on the ISU All-Time Blocks list.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 40.7 percent from the field, and just 18.8 percent from three-point territory, going 3-of-18 from deep. The Bengals tallied 12 assists, 34 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Idaho finished the game shooting 41.5 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from three-point land (5-for-18). The Vandals finished with 36 rebounds, 2 steals, and 8 assists.
The Idaho State men's basketball team will be back in Reed Gym on Saturday, January 20
th to host the Eastern Washington University Eagles. Tip will be at 6 PM, and Dylan Carder call the game on ESPN+ & Scott Gross will have the call on KISU.
