VERMILLION, South Dakota - The Idaho State men's basketball team played their first of two games in the Big Sky vs. Summit League Challenge, traveling to Vermillion, South Dakota as the South Dakota Coyotes hosted Idaho State for their first matchup in program history against USD.
The University of South Dakota jumped out to an early 10-3 lead and would never look back, leading by as many as 17 over Idaho State in the first half. At the halftime break the Bengals would try to regain their focus, trailing by 13, 46-33.
Idaho State and South Dakota played each other fairly evenly all second half. For every run the Bengals would go on, the Coyotes would have an answer, and vise-versa. South Dakota would lead by as many 18 in the second half, and the Bengals would get as close as eight points, but in the end Idaho State would fall by a score of 94-80. Following the loss Idaho State will drop to 3-5 overall, and South Dakota would improve to 7-3 on the season.
Captain,
AJ Burgin, came in off the bench and immediately knew it was his night, leading all scorers with a career-high 25 points on 8-13 shooting from the field and a career-high six three pointers made on 10 attempted, tying him for the second most made three-pointers in a single game this season in the Big Sky Conference, and tying him for 7
th on the Idaho State single-game 3PM list. Burgin would also snag two rebounds and one assist.
Dylan Darling would finish the evening with a solid stat line, putting up 16 points on 6-12 shooting from the field and 2-3 from three, three assists, three steals, and two rebounds.
Jake O'Neil and
Connor Hollenbeck would be the other two Bengals starters to finish scoring in double-digits, O'Neil ended with a near double-double, tallying 12 points on 5-12 shooting from the field and 2-5 from beyond the arc, nine rebounds, and two assists, while Hollenbeck would end his night with 12 points on 4-7 shooting from the floor and 2-4 from three-point land, five rebounds, one block, one steal, and one assist. The final two starters for ISU were
Evan Otten and
Isaiah Griffin, Otten finishing with six rebounds, five blocks, and one point, and Griffin ended with nine points on 3-7 shooting from the field, and two rebounds. Also off the bench for the Bengals was
Quentin Meza and
Jackson Greene. Meza totaled three points and four assists in 15 minutes of action and Greene would end his night with two points and two rebounds in 11 minutes.
The Bengals finished the game shooting just 42.2 percent from the field, and 41.9 percent from deep finishing 13-31 from three-point range. Idaho State would finish with 37 rebounds (20 offensive and 17 defensive), 13 assists, and 4 steals.
South Dakota finished the game shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 52.4 percent from three-point territory (11-21). The Coyotes would finish with 14 assists, 35 boards, and 8 steals.
The Idaho State men's basketball team will play their second game of the Big Sky vs. Summit League Challenge at home in Reed Gym on Saturday, December 7
th at 6 P.M., hosting the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. Idaho State is searching for their first-ever victory over Oral Roberts, 0-3 All-Time vs. the Golden Eagles.
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