LOS ANGELES, California - The Bengals men's basketball team completed their three-gamer California road trip on Wednesday night, taking on the UCLA Bruins for the first time since their Sweet 16 victory over UCLA in the 1977 NCAA Tournament.
The Bengals and Bruins would battle closely in the beginning of the first half, the Bengals taking a 12-10 lead with 13:51 remaining in the first half after
Isaiah Griffin would come out scorching hot, scoring all of the Bengals 12 points to begin the game. However, the Bruins would proceed to go on a 10-0 run to gain a 20-12 advantage with 10:05 to play in the half. UCLA would build their lead to as many as 17 points in the first half, but the halftime break the Bengals would head into the locker rooms trailing by 14, 27-41.
In the second half the Bruins would balloon their lead all the way to a game-high 28 points with just 8:01 to play, however the Bengals would show fight towards the end. As they ended the final eight minutes outscoring UCLA by 14 points, as they would fall by 14 in Pauley Pavilion, 70-84, becoming the first visiting team to drop more than 50 points in Pauley Pavilion this season. Following the loss Idaho State will drop to 2-4 overall, and UCLA would boost their record to 4-1 on the season.
Four Bengals finished the night scoring in double digits for the ISU squad, leading the way was senior,
Isaiah Griffin, who finished tying his season-high with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and setting a new career-high in 3FG, going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, while also grabbing two rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
Dylan Darling would total 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the floor, three assists, and one block.
Connor Hollenbeck would break out of his shooting slump, going 3-for-6 in this one, finishing with seven points, three rebounds, and one assist. Big man,
Evan Otten, would foul out after 20 minutes played, finishing with six points, two steals, and two rebounds. The final starter for Idaho State,
Jake O'Neil, would tally five rebounds, two assists, and one steal as O'Neil was left scoreless, going 0-of-3 from the floor. Off the bench
AJ Burgin and
Jaedyn Brown both finished the game in double figures for scoring, Burgin scoring 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 3-of-6 from deep, with two rebounds in 13 minutes of action, while Brown would put up 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-for-5 from deep, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 16 minutes played.
Quentin Meza would finish off the scoring for the Bengals, going 2-for-2 at the free-throw line while having one assist, one rebound, and one steal in 15 minutes.
The Bengals finished the game shooting just 44.4 percent from the field, and 33.3 percent from deep finishing 11-of-33 from three-point range. Idaho State showed their srength on the glass, finishing just-2 in the rebounding margin to UCLA, outrebounding UCLA on the offensive end, 10-8. The Bengals would also finish with 16 assists and 7 steals.
UCLA finished the game shooting 57.4 percent from the field and 64.3 percent from three-point territory. The Bruins would finish with 16 assists, 25 boards, and 7 steals.
The Idaho State men's basketball team will be back in Reed Gym for the second time this season, hosting Embry-Riddlethe on Monday, November 25
th at 7 p.m. MT. This game will be streamed on the ESPN+, you can listen along live with Scott Gross on KISU, or you can follow along with LiveStats.
SUPPORT THE BENGALS!
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
FOLLOW THE BENGALS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in Bengal Men's Basketball by following us on Facebook (
IdahoStateMensBasketball), Twitter (@
IdahoStateMBB), and Instagram (@
idahostatembb).
