POCATELLO, Idaho – The Bengals men's basketball team faced off against the Portland State Vikings in Reed Gym tonight. Their second meeting of the year with the Vikings. The Bengals coming out with a victory in Portland earlier this season. Idaho State is searching for their first season sweep of the Vikings in 8 years.
The Vikings would come away with the early lead in the game, unable to grow their lead past four before ISU would storm back to gain their first lead of the game after a
Miguel Tomley steal and transition three-point basket, giving the Bengals a 15-14 advantage with 12:13 remaining in the first half. The Idaho State lead would be short lived as PSU would surge to lead by as many as eight points in the closing seconds of the half, however as both teams went into the locker rooms for the halftime break the Vikings would lead the Bengals by seven, 35-28.
Portland State would extend their lead to 11 points to begin the second half, but
Miguel Tomley and
Brayden Parker would combine for the next 10 Bengal points to cut the Vikings' lead down to just five with 12:09 to play, 46-41. Following a
Brayden Parker block and
Kiree Huie mid-range bucket Idaho State would find themselves down by just three with under six minutes to play, but on the following possession
Brayden Parker would pick up his fourth foul, and the Bengals would need to find some scoring from someone else late.
Kiree Huie stepped up in a big way, scoring the next 10 in a row for ISU, making all four free-throw attempts to tie the game at 63 apiece with 2:49 to play. Following a Viking dunk to go back up two points Idaho State once again needed a clutch bucket, after weaving his way through traffic
Miguel Tomley would use a crafty finish to knot the contest back up, this time at 65 all coming with 2:04 remaining.
Briggs Ranstrom would get two of his three steals in the final three minutes of the game, and his final steal would lead to the Bengals'
Maleek Arington drawing the foul and going one-of-two at the line to give the Bengals a one-point advantage with 1:13 left in the game. Idaho State would lock down late, producing three consecutive stops in the clutch, and after two more
Miguel Tomley free-throws the Bengals would bring home their third consecutive win, and their first sweep of the Portland State Vikings since the 2015-16 season. After the win, Idaho State improves to 11-14 overall and 6-6 in Big Sky play. Following the loss, Portland State falls to 14-11 overall and 5-7 in Big Sky play.
Miguel Tomley led Idaho State in scoring, totaling 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field, while also grabbing two rebounds, and one steal.
Maleek Arington would put 13 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the floor, three assists, two steals, and one rebound.
Kiree Huie would come up big late, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the final five minutes of the contest, while also grabbing five rebounds, and one block, and the final Bengal scoring in double figures was
Brayden Parker, as he recorded his second double-double on the season totaling 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, tying a season-high with 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks.
Isaiah Griffin would end the game with four points, one rebound, and one assist.
Briggs Ranstrom and
AJ Burgin would provide the Idaho State Bengals with great minutes off the bench as Ranstrom finished with three steals, one point, one assist, one rebound, and one block in 20 minutes. And Burgin would tally five points, three rebounds, two steals, and one assist in 25 minutes of action. The final Bengal getting in the scoring column tonight was
Trent Johnson, as he had two points and one rebound in four minutes of play.
Following the win Head Coach,
Ryan Looney, earns his 50
th career win and 31
st win in Big Sky play with the Bengals.
After his 12 points tonight,
Brayden Parker moves into 15
th place on the ISU All-Time scoring list, with 1,193 career points. Passing Jim Rodgers (1,186) and Geno Luzcando (1,189). Parker also now sits at 111 career blocks, needing just four more to pass Nate Green (114) for 3
rd on the ISU All-Time blocks list.
Idaho State finished the game shooting 47.8 percent from the field, and 22.2 percent from three-point territory, going 4-of-18 from behind the arc. The Bengals tallied 8 assists, 27 rebounds, and 10 steals.
Portland State finished the game shooting just 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point land (7-for-14). The Vikings finished the game with 19 rebounds, 5 steals, and 9 assists.
The Idaho State men's basketball team will be back in action on Thursday, February 15
th on the road in Cheney, Washington taking on league-leading Eastern Washington at 7 pm MT.
