POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State Bengals men's basketball team will be back in Reed Gym for the first time of the 2024-25 season, hosting Southern Oregon University on Monday, November 11
th at 7 PM. This will be the first-ever meeting between Idaho State and Southern Oregon.
Scott Gross will call the games on KISU and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.
Southern Oregon University (4-0)
Home (0-0), Away (3-0), Neutral (1-0)
The Raiders enter the contest against Idaho State with a 4-0 overall record, defeating Carroll College and Montana State-Northern.
USC Recap
The Bengals would strike first following an
Isaiah Griffin 3-point basket, but USC would look to flex their muscles early, proceeding to go on a 16-4 run to gain a nine point advantage with 13:16 left in the first half. The Trojans would increase their lead to 12, the largest of the first half. However, the Bengals would come back swinging, going on an 8-0 run after triples by
Jake O'Neil and
Dylan Darling on back-to-back possessions, cutting the Trojan lead down to just 4, 19-15.
Jake O'Neil would hit a jumper from just inside the paint with 4:18 to play in the half to knot the score up at 25 apiece, but USC would go into the halftime break on top, leading Idaho State by three, 38-35.
ISU and USC would battle it out the entire second half, the Bengals would not allow the Trojans to get their lead larger than eight, coming with 15:18 left to play. The Bengals would go on a 6-0 run over the next three minutes to cut the lead back down to just two, 51-49. With 8:45 to play
Dylan Darling would sink two huge free-throws to give Idaho State their first lead, 58-57, since the score was 5-4. The Bengals would find themselves back down 2 with 4:30 to play, but thanks to an emphatic
Evan Otten dunk Idaho State would tie things up at 63. USC would go on to make three free-throws and a mid-range jump shot, but
Jake O'Neil would provide Idaho State with two huge late game layups, the second cutting the deficit down to just one point, 67-68 with 1:40 to play. However, the Trojans would bleed the clock out the next two possessions and would cap it off by hitting a huge three-pointer, giving themselves a four point cushion over Idaho State with just 18 seconds on the clock.
Dylan Darling would get a driving layup to fall with four second left but USC would hit all four of their end of game free-throws to finish it off. Idaho State will fall to 0-2 following the loss and the Trojans will improve to 2-0.
"Something special is brewing with our team" says Head Coach
Ryan Looney following the Bengals narrow loss to USC. "We are defending and rebounding, and our guys made progress on offense tonight as well.
We knew this week would be very challenging for us with a new team. We are excited to get home and play in front of our Bengal fans. Pocatello is going to love these guys."
Dylan Darling led the charge for Idaho State in tonight, finishing with a career-high 22 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 from charity stripe, seven assists, two rebounds, and one block. Darling records Idaho State's first 20+ point & 5+ assist game since Bengal great, Brandon Boyd, during the 2018-19 season. The other Bengal finishing in double-digits for scoring in this one was
Isaiah Griffin, who would end with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field, and four rebounds. Captain,
Jake O'Neil, would flirt with his second double-double in as many games this season, finishing just one point and rebound shy as he ended his night with nine points, nine rebounds, three assists, and one block. Starting big-man,
Evan Otten, would have the best game of his young Bengal career, finishing with career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, and tying his career-high in blocks tonight as he put up seven points, 12 rebounds, two blocks, and one assist. The final starter for ISU was
Connor Hollenbeck who would end tonight with seven points and two rebounds. Off the bench for Idaho State
Jackson Greene and
Blake Daberkow would make big impact. Greene would end up fouling out after 16 minutes of action, recording six points and three rebounds, while Daberkow would put up four points, two rebounds, one block, and one assist in 12 minutes.
AJ Burgin and
Quentin Meza would round out the Bengal scoring, each contributing two points.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 46.7 percent from the field, and 33.3 percent from deep finishing 4-of-12 from three-point territory. The Bengals would end the game outrebounding USC by 15, finishing with 40 rebounds while also tallying 12 assists and 4 blocks.
The Trojans finished the game shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 25 percent from beyond the arc. USC would finish with 20 assists, 25 boards, and 3 blocks. The Trojans would win the turnover battle by a wide margin, forcing Idaho State to commit 17 turnovers leading to 18 Trojan points, compared to USC's 6 turnovers which ISU turned into 4 points.
The Returning 4
4
Jaedyn Brown G R-Fr. 6-4 185 Pullman, WA
12
Isaiah Griffin F Sr. 6-6 210 Knightdale, NC
13
AJ Burgin G Sr. 6-3 205 San Diego, Calif.
30
Evan Otten C R-Fr. 6-11 235 Redmond, OR
Hello my name is
0
Joey Madimba G Jr. 6-5 205 Mansfield, TX
1
Dylan Darling G R-So. 6-1 180 Spokane, WA
2
Nick Ghetie G Fr. 5-11 175 Portland, OR
3
Quentin Meza G So. 6-0 180 West Valley City, UT
5
Cheikh Sow G Jr. 6-7 195 Theis, Senegal
8
Jake O'Neil G Gr. 6-4 210 Fruitland, ID
10
Connor Hollenbeck F Gr. 6-7 225 Rapid City, SD
11
Cam Slaymaker G Jr. 6-4 195 Coquitlam, BC, CA
14
Covy Kelly G Jr. 6-2 182 Garden Valley, ID
21
Jackson Greene F Jr. 6-7 215 Atlanta, GA
24
Justin Graham F Sr. 6-7 200 Colorado Springs, CO
32
Blake Daberkow C Jr. 6-10 235 Lincoln, NE
Bengal Bites
- Idaho State brings in 12 new players for the 2024-25 campaign (1 of only 27 schools in NCAA D1)
- The Bengals return just 4 players from last season, only 2 of the 4 saw playing time
- The Bengals return just 20% of their points, rebounds, and minutes played from last season
- Idaho State adds two noteable players, both of which look to make a push into the Bengals starting rotation: Jake O'Neil, Dylan Darling
- Jake O'Neil is a graduate student who earned his Bachelor's degree from the College of Idaho. While at COI, O'Neil led the Yotes to their second-ever National Championship during the 2022-23 season
- Dylan Darling is a Redshirt Sophomore who played at Washington State prior to coming to ISU
- Jake O'Neil recorded a double-double (10 points & 11 rebounds) in his Idaho State debut on Nov. 5th at Arizona State
- Dylan Darling became the first ISU player since Brandon Boyd in 2018 to record 20+ points and 5+ assists in the same game in the Bengals' near upset of USC on Nov. 7th
