SAN DIEGO, California - The Idaho State men's basketball team traveled to San Diego, California to take on the University of San Diego Toreros for the fourth-ever meeting in program history, and the first since 2000. The Bengals have never beaten the Toreros, 0-3 All-Time.
The Bengals would jump out to an early 8-2 lead in the first 2 minutes and 30 seconds following a made three-pointer by
Connor Hollenbeck. Idaho State would maintain their lead for the rest of the first half, until San Diego would go on a 7-0 run, cutting the Bengal lead to just one, 25-24, with 4:26 remaining in the first half. Idaho State would end the half on a 11-2 run, capped off by an
Evan Otten and-1 dunk, giving Idaho State the 36-26 advantage heading into the halftime break.
The Bengals would come out in the second half firing on all cylinders, going on a 8-2 run to extend their lead to 16 points with 16:37 remaining. With 8:09 remaining the Toreros would go on a 7-0 run, cutting the ISU lead down to just four, 63-59, however, the Bengals would respond with a run of their own, going on a 12-3 run over the next 6 minutes and 30 seconds, ballooning their lead back to double-digits. As the game drew to a close the Bengals would close San Diego out, winning by a final score of 78-66. Following the win, Idaho State will move to 2-2 on the season, and after the loss, San Diego will drop to 1-3 on the season.
All five starters would finish scoring in double figures in this one for Idaho State,
Isaiah Griffin would lead the way with a game-high 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the floor, six rebounds, and one assist. Both big men for ISU,
Evan Otten and
Connor Hollenbeck, would tally 13 points. Otten scoring 13 on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor, nine rebounds, five blocks, one assist, and one steal. While Hollenbeck would score his 13 on 4-of-9 shooting and 2-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc, while also recording three steals, three assists, and two rebounds.
Dylan Darling and
Jake O'Neil would continue their hot starts to their ISU careers, Darling recording a near triple-double with 12 points on 3-of-9 shooting from the floor, eight rebounds, eight assists, and two steals, while O'Neil would end up with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field, six rebounds, two steals, one block, and one assist. Off the bench
AJ Burgin would lead the charge, finishing with six points on 2-of-6 shooting from deep and two rebounds in 14 minutes of action.
Jackson Greene and
Jaedyn Brown would get in on the scoring, as Greene would end with five points and Brown would finish with three, while
Quentin Meza would play just seven minutes, but still manage to record four assists and one rebound. Meza has now recorded 10 total assists in the Bengals' last two games off the bench.
"I love this group, they are playing extremely hard", said Head Coach,
Ryan Looney following the Bengals' double-digit win at San Diego. "Being plus 9 on the glass will win us a lot of games."
The Bengals finished the game shooting 44.1 percent from the field, and 31.8 percent from deep finishing 7-of-22 from three-point territory for the second game in a row. The Bengals would continue their domination on the glass to begin this season, outrebounding the Toreros 39-30, as well as finishing with 18 assists and 8 steals.
San Diego finished the game shooting 36.7 percent from the field and just 19.2 percent from three-point range. USD would finish with 13 assists, 30 boards, and 9 steals.
The Idaho State men's basketball team will be back in action early next week, as they go up against Cal State Fullerton on Monday, November 18
th at 8 p.m. MT, followed by their final game of their west coast roadtrip, at UCLA on Wednesday, November 20
th at 9 p.m. MT. The Bengals' game at CSUF will be available to stream on ESPN+, and ISU's game at UCLA will be streamed on the BIG10 Network, or you can follow along live for both games with LiveStats.
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Fans can purchase tickets for various Idaho State athletic events by visiting idahostate.evenue.net/list/Athl. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 208-282-4093 or by email at joyerin@isu.edu
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