POCATELLO, Idaho – The Bengals men's basketball team hosted the Eastern Washington Eagles, for the first of two meetings this season with EWU. The Bengals defeated the Eagles in their most recent matchup last year, however, Idaho State has lost the last four of five to Eastern Washington.
Idaho State and Eastern Washington fought hard all first half, the Eagles would lead for a majority of the half, Idaho State would not allow them to grow a lead bigger than six points. The Bengals were able to gain their first lead of the game at 29-28, following a
Kiree Huie layup, with 6:19 to play in the first half. Both teams were knotted up at 33 at the 1:11 mark in the half when
AJ Burgin drained his third three-pointer of the first half to give the Bengals a 36-33 lead. However, the Eagles ended the half on a 5-0 run and took a 38-36 lead into the locker room.
The Bengals would hold their own with the Eagles until the 15:44 mark in the second half. When EWU decided to surge out front en route to a 17-0 run, turning their lead into 20 points, 62-42. Idaho State would play catch up the rest of the game, and were able to outpace the Eagles in the final 10 minutes of the game, but it would not be enough as the Bengals would not be able to get within 10 points of Eastern Washington the rest of the contest. In the end Idaho State would fall 67-79, with the loss, Idaho State drops to 7-12 overall and 2-4 in Big Sky play. With the win, Eastern Washington improves to 11-7 overall and remains undefeated (5-0) in Big Sky play.
Miguel Tomley led the Bengals in tonight's contest as he put up a season-high 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the floor and 5-of-11 from deep, two rebounds, and one assist.
Brayden Parker would tally 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and tied career-highs in blocks and steals, finishing with five blocks and four steals.
Maleek Arington ended tonight's game with seven points, tied a career-high with six rebounds, five assists, and four steals.
Kiree Huie put up six points, four rebounds, and one steal, and the final starter for Idaho State,
Isaiah Griffin, recorded two points and two rebounds.
AJ Burgin came in off the bench and provided a huge spark for ISU, as he and Tomley combined for 9 of the Bengals' 11 made three-pointers. Burgin would end up tallying a season-high 16 points on his best shooting game of the year thus far, making 4-of-11 from beyond-the-arc, while also recording three rebounds, one assist, and his first block of the season, all in 23 minutes of action, tying Burgin's career-high in minutes played.
Briggs Ranstrom would also make a big impact for the Bengals, Ranstrom would also play in a career-high 23 minutes, while putting up three points, three rebounds, and one steal.
With his 5 blocks tonight,
Brayden Parker (102) moves past Jeff Cook (99) for 4
th place on the ISU All-Time Blocks leaderboard. Parker also now sits at 1,093 career points. Just 27 points shy of passing Ethan Telfair for 19
th place on the ISU All-Time Scoring list.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 38.6 percent from the field, and 37.9 percent from three-point territory, making a season-high 11-of-29 from deep. The Bengals tallied 10 assists, 29 rebounds, and 10 steals.
Eastern Washington finished the game shooting 59.2 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from three-point land (9-for-16). The Eagles finished with 35 rebounds, 4 steals, and 22 assists, the most assists ISU has allowed in a single game this season.
The Idaho State men's basketball team will be back on the road, as they will be gone for the next four games. The Bengals will travel to play Montana State, Weber State, Northern Colorado, and Northern Arizona over that span. ISU's next contest will be Monday, January 22
nd at 7 PM in Bozeman, Montana as the Bengals look to seek revenge on the Montana State Bobcats for the Bobcats' win over the Bengals in Reed Gym just a few weeks ago. Be sure to follow along as Scott Gross will have the call on KISU.
