DENVER, Colorado – The Idaho State men's basketball team traveled to Denver, Colorado Wednesday night to face off with the University of Denver Pioneers in the inaugural Big Sky vs Summit League Challenge.
Both the Bengals and Pioneers came out of the gates strong. The Bengals jumped to an early 6-2 lead, but the Pioneers would respond, going on a 6-0 run to take the lead early, 8-6. After being down 36-35 with 5:05 left in the first half Idaho State would end the half on an 11-4 run, taking a 46-40 lead into halftime.
The Bengals would grow this lead in the second half to as many as 10 points at the 15:19 mark, but Denver would close that gap quickly and knot the contest up at 59 in a blink of an eye, coming with 9:34 remaining in the game. Idaho State would immediately respond, going on a 7-0 run, but once again Denver had an answer for the Bengal lead, taking a two-point advantage with just six seconds left. After a hard drive to the rim and just .8 seconds remaining on the clock
Maleek Arington would need to make two clutch free-throws in order to send this game into overtime, and with ice in his veins he did just that.
In the overtime period the Pioneers came out scorching hot, going 4-for-4 from the field, making three three-pointers en route to an 88-77 lead. The Bengals could not find the touch in OT and would be outscored 18-5, dropping the contest by a final score of 95-82. Following the loss, the Bengals fall to 4-10 overall, dropping their sixth in a row. Denver will get back in the win column, moving their record to 10-6 this season.
Brayden Parker led the way for the Bengals in this one, dropping 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 2-of-6 from deep, Parker also snagged five rebounds, a career-high four steals, four blocks, and two assists.
Miguel Tomley tied his season-high in scoring with 19 points, a season-high eight rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
Maleek Arington scored a career-high of 18 points, six assists, three rebounds, and three steals.
Isaiah Griffin tallied nine points, three rebounds, and one steal, and the final starter for the Bengals,
Kiree Huie, scored seven points and snatched down five rebounds. Off the bench for ISU
Trent Johnson put up five points, five rebounds, and one steal in 20 minutes, and
AJ Burgin tallied four points, two rebounds, and one assist in 12 minutes.
With his 20 points tonight,
Brayden Parker has reached 1,030 career points, moving him into 22
nd place on the ISU All-Time Scoring list, passing Sam Beckham (1,021) and Brand Robinson (1,023). With Parker's four blocks tonight, he now sits at 92 career blocks, sitting just 1 block shy of tying Jesse Smith for 5
th place all-time with 93.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 45.5 percent from the field, and 32 percent from three-point land, going 8-of-25 from deep. The Bengals tallied 11 assists, 32 rebounds, and 10 steals.
Denver finished the game shooting 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point territory. The Pioneers finished with 33 rebounds, 7 steals, and 15 assists.
The Bengal men's basketball team will be back in action on Saturday, January 6
th as they play their second game of the season in the MACU Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho against the University of Nebraska-Omaha, in their second game of the Big Sky – Summit League Challenge, and the Bengals' final non-conference game of the season. Tip will be at 6 pm, the game will be available to stream on ESPN+ and Scott Gross will have the call on KISU.
