Idaho State Resumes Conference Play With West Coast Trip

POCATELLO, Idaho- The Bengals men's basketball team will be will be back on the road and return to conference play, traveling to play Portland State on Thursday, January 11^th at 8 pm MT and Sacramento State on Saturday, January 13^th at 7 pm MT. Idaho State has lost to Portland State the last six meetings in a row, and 9 of their last 10. The Bengals also come into their game versus the Hornets having lost 4 of their last 5 to Sacramento State. Scott Gross will call the game on KISU and both games will be available to stream on ESPN+.

Portland State University (10-5)
Home (4-0), Away (5-4), Neutral (1-1)
ISU Recent Series vs. PSU
2/16/2023     A         L          70 – 79
1/21/2023     H         L          65 – 72
3/9/2022        N         L          52 – 66
2/26/2022     A         L          69 – 73 (OT)
12/2/2021     H         L          55 – 63
 
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Portland State enters their game with Idaho State at 10-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play. In their last three games the Vikings have lost to Eastern Washington 57-91, defeated Idaho 77-72, and lost to Kansas City 67-83.
 
Sacramento State (4-11)
Home (3-2), Away (1-7), Neutral (0-2)
ISU Recent Series vs. CSUS
2/18/2023     A         L          65 – 70
1/19/2023     H         W         65 – 61
2/19/2022     H         L          75 – 80
1/27/2022     A         L          60 – 61
 
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Sacramento State hosts Weber State on Thursday, January 11^th and Idaho State on Saturday, January 13^th. The Hornets enter this week with a 4-11 overall record and 0-2 in conference play. Sac State began conference play with losses to Idaho and Eastern Washington, but defeated Kansas City in their first game of the Big Sky vs Summit League Challenge. However, in their second game they fell to St. Thomas.
 
 
University of Nebraska-Omaha Recap
Idaho State and Nebraska-Omaha battled early and often. Both teams finding the open man and going basket for basket. In an opening half that saw the seven ties and nine lead changes, the Bengals and Mavericks would go into the halftime break tied up at 29 apiece.
 
Coming out of the break the Mavericks looked like men on a mission, going on a 21-4 run, growing a 17-point lead at the 12:50 mark on the second half. It looked bleak for the Bengals, however, following 3-straight three-pointers by AJ Burgin the Bengals would find themselves down just 12 and growing some momentum. After some steals by Maleek Arington and Trent Johnson and two crafty Miguel Tomley lay-in's the Bengals would now cut the Maverick lead to just seven with 5:47 to play. Two straight triples by big man, Brayden Parker, capped a 13-4 ISU run that would bring their deficient to just three points, 57-60 with 4:25 remaining in the contest. Following a couple of jumpers by Brayden Parker and Trent Johnson the Bengals trailed by just one point. Nebraska-Omaha would come down the floor with 40 seconds on the clock and rebound up their own miss, but Trent Johnson would send back the Maverick layup and Maleek Arington would draw a foul with just five second left to play. After a Bengal timeout AJ Burgin was ready to throw in for ISU from underneath the Maverick basket. Burgin tossed his entry pass to Brayden Parker towards the top of the key, when Parker found a wide-open Maleek Arington on a backdoor cut towards the hoop for a layup with just 2.5 seconds on the clock. UNO would miss their half-court heave and the Bengals earned their first victory since December 2nd. Following the win, the Bengals move to 5-10 overall, and Nebraska-Omaha will fall to 8-9 on the year.
 
Brayden Parker would lead the way for the Bengals, dropping 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 from deep, Parker also snagged four rebounds, and two assists. Maleek Arington would tally six points, tie his career-high with seven assists, set a new career-high in steals with five, and add four rebounds. Four ISU players would finish this game with nine points. Miguel Tomley would put up nine points, four assists, and two rebounds, Isaiah Griffin would go for nine points and six rebounds, and the final Bengal starter, Kiree Huie, put up nine points, three rebounds, one block, and one assist. Off the bench AJ Burgin and Trent Johnson provided a huge spark for Idaho State, Burgin scored nine points on a season-best 3-of-4 shooting from deep and added one rebound in 15 minutes, while Johnson stuffed the stat sheet, adding a season-high seven points, four rebounds, two assists, one block, and one steal in 24 minutes.
 
The Bengals finished the game shooting 45.3 percent from the field, and 37.5 percent from three-point land, going 9-of-24 from deep (Tied for most in a game this season). The Bengals tallied 16 assists (4th most in a game this season), 27 rebounds, and 6 steals.
 
Nebraska-Omaha finished the game shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point territory (5-10). The Mavericks finished with 28 rebounds, 6 steals, and 11 assists.

The Returning 8
3          Maleek Arington       G         So.      6-3      200     Auburn, WA
10        Miguel Tomley         G         So.      6-3      200     Surrey, BC                
12        Turner Livingston     F          R-Fr.   6-4      195     Spokane, WA
13        AJ Burgin                   G         Jr.       6-3      205     San Diego, CA
14        Jordan Hansen         G         So.      6-6      215     Seattle, WA
20        Briggs Ranstrom      F          R-Fr.   6-6      205     Eagle, ID
25        Brayden Parker        C         Gr.       6-8      250     Preston, ID
44        Louis Stormark         C         R-So.  6-9      250     Alleroed, Denmark                          
 
Hello my name is
0          Kolton Mitchell         G         Fr.       6-1      175     Coeur d' Alene, ID   
4          Jaedyn Brown           G         Fr.       6-4      175     Pullman, WA            
5          Laolu Kalejaiye         G         Fr.       6-0      160     Los Angeles, CA      
15        Kiree Huie                  F          Jr.       6-9      220     Grayson, GA 
21        Isaiah Griffin             F          Jr.       6-6      210     Knightdale, NC                     
22        James Bodily            G         Fr.       6-3      200     Bancroft, ID              
30        Evan Otten                C         Fr.       6-11    220     Redmond, OR
31        Trent Johnson          F          Jr.       6-7      205     Cambridge, ON        
32        Gavin Gilstrap           C         Jr.       6-11    270     Spokane, WA
 
Bengal Bites

• Brayden Parker is now 6^th on the ISU career Blocks list with 92, passing Deividas Busma after recording 2 blocks in the Bengals game vs Montana on Dec. 30^th
• Brayden Parker became the 25^th player in Idaho State history to reach the 1,000-career point mark after dropping a season-high 24 points in the Bengals' game vs Montana on Dec. 30^th
• Parker moved into 22^nd place on the ISU All-Time scoring list, now with 1,044 career points, passing Sam Beckham (1,021) and Brand Robinson (1,023) after dropping 20 points against Denver on January 3^rd
• Brayden Parker leads the Big Sky in Field Goal Percentage, making 59% of his shots (38^th in the country)
• Kiree Huie is 3^rd in the Big Sky in Field Goal Percentage, making 54.9% of his attempts (75^th in the country)
• Kiree Huie is 2^nd in the Big Sky in Blocks (19) & BPG (1.27)
• Brayden Parker is 3^rd in the Big Sky in Blocks (18) & BPG (1.20)
• Maleek Arington is 2^nd in the Big Sky in Assists (63) & APG (4.2)
• Maleek Arington is 2^nd in the Big Sky in Steals (34 steals & 22^nd in the nation) & SPG (2.27)
• Miguel Tomley is 9^th in the Big Sky in 3-Point FGM (29)
• Idaho State has been stingy on defense, plucking 7.1 steals per game (2^nd in the Big Sky)
• The Bengals defense is only allowing 69 PPG to opposing teams (2^nd in the Big Sky)
• The Bengals 3-point defense is picking up where they left off last season, stifling their opponents from beyond-the-arc, holding them to just 31.6% when attempting 3-pointers (2^nd in the Big Sky)

Looking Ahead
Following their game in Idaho Falls, Idaho State will be back on the road and return to conference play, traveling to play Portland State on January 11^th and Sacramento State on January 13^th.

Follow the Bengals
Follow along at ISUBengals.com to keep up to date with the team. Fans can also follow the Bengals on social media  (Twitter: @IdahoStateMBB | Instagram:@Idahostatembb | Facebook:@IdahoStateMensBasketball)