FULLERTON, California - The Bengals men's basketball team was back in action on Monday night, as they competed in game two of their three game roadtrip, taking on the Cal State Fullerton Titans for the third time in program history. The Bengals and Titans split their previous two matchups in 2011 and 2012.
The Bengals and Titans would battle closely the entirety of the fist half, no team gaining a lead larger than four points. The Bengals would struggle shooting the ball, finishing the first half 12-of-34 from the field and just 2-of-11 from beyond the arc. However, the Bengals would keep themselves in it with their hustle and rebounding. ISU was able to secure 12 first half offensive rebounds, compared to CSUF's two. Just as the halftime buzzer sounded,
Isaiah Griffin would get a driving layup to fall, giving Idaho State the 32-31 advantage heading into halftime.
ISU and CSUF would play each other tight the entire rest of the way, but the Titans would finally gain a lead larger than four points with nine minutes remaining in the game, taking a five-point lead, 49-44 over Idaho State. Idaho State's offensive struggles would continue in the second half, scoring just four points from the 7:20 mark until the :50 second mark, and being held without a made basket for a 7 minute and 20 second stretch late in the game. With just 48 seconds to play Cal State Fullerton would take the largest lead of the game, eight points, 60-52. However, the game was far from over, as Idaho State would give it one final run, they would go on a 9-2 run in the game's final seconds, after multiple steals and a made desperation three-pointer by
Dylan Darling, the Bengals would trail by just one, with .5 seconds left. CSUF would heave the ball to halfcourt, however the errand pass would fall out of bounds. After reviewing the play the officials would determine a Titan player had grazed the ball with his fingertips as it went out of bounds, leaving just .2 seconds left on the clock. ISU would give it one final shot, but
Evan Otten's final touch would send the ball bouncing off the backboard and the Bengals would be unable to pull off the miracle comeback in the final seconds. Following the loss Idaho State will drop to 2-3 overall, and Cal State Fullerton would earn their first win of this young 2024-25 season, moving to 1-4 this year.
Scoring for the ISU squad would be sparse in this one, only having five players finish in the scoring column.
Jake O'Neil ended tonight with his second double-double of the season, totaling 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field, a game-high 12 rebounds, a game-high three steals, and one block.
Dylan Darling would also end with 17 points on 5-of-16 shooting from the floor, three assists, two steals, and one rebound.
Isaiah Griffin ended with a season-high 16 points off of 5-of-12 shooting from the field, six rebounds, and one steal.
Evan Otten finished the game with six points on 3-of-7 shooting, four rebounds, and two blocks. The final Bengal starter,
Connor Hollenbeck, would finish tonight with a season-high eight rebounds, but was unable to find the bottom of the net, going 0-7 shooting from the field, Hollenbeck would also add one assist. Off the bench for the Bengals,
Jackson Greene would be the fifth and final Bengal to get into the scoring column, ending his night with five points on 2-of-2 shooting from the floor and 1-of-1 from three-point range, two rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 12 minutes of action.
The Bengals finished the game shooting just 30.9 percent from the field, and 21.4 percent from deep finishing 6-of-28 from three-point range. Idaho State continued their tenacity on the glass, finishing +13 in the rebounding margin, outrebounding the Titans 42-29, and finishing with more offensive rebounds than defensive, 22-20. The Bengals would also finish with 5 assists and 9 steals.
Cal State Fullerton finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from three-point territory. CSUF would finish with 11 assists, 29 boards, and 4 steals.
The Idaho State men's basketball team will take the court for their final game of their west coast roadtrip, at UCLA on Wednesday, November 20
th at 9 p.m. MT. This game will be streamed on the BIG10 Network, you can listen along live with Scott Gross and Brad Bugger on KISU, or you can follow along with LiveStats.
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