Bengals Look to Defend Home Court vs NAU & UNC

POCATELLO, Idaho - The Idaho State men's basketball squad will be playing in Reed Gym for the final two times this week. The Bengals will host Northern Arizona on Leap Day, Thursday, February 29^th at 7 pm. In their previous matchup this season, Idaho State came out of Flagstaff with a narrow win, 81-79. The Bengals have won the last 4 in a row vs NAU, as well as 7 of their last 8. This will be followed by the Bengals' senior night game and their 2023-24 home finale, as ISU takes on Northern Colorado on Saturday, March 2^nd at 6 pm. The Bears took the win in the two teams' previous meeting this season in Greeley, Colorado in a 2OT thriller. ISU has dropped the last two in a row versus UNC. Dylan Carder will have the call on ESPN+ and Scott Gross will call the game on KISU.

Northern Arizona (13-16)
Home (7-4), Away (5-11), Neutral (1-1)
ISU Recent Series vs. NAU
2/3/2024        A         W         81 – 79
2/6/2023        A         W         75 – 70
12/29/2022   H         W         79 – 53
2/24/2022     A         W         70 – 66
12/4/2021     H         L          70 – 73
 
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The Lumberjacks enter the game with the Bengals with a 13-16 overall record and 6-9 record in conference play. Northern Arizona fell to Idaho in their latest matchup, 76-86, however NAU defeated Eastern Washington in their game prior, 78-71.
 
Northern Colorado (17-11)
Home (11-3), Away (5-7), Neutral (1-1)
ISU Recent Series vs. UNC
2/1/2024        A         L          86 – 91 (2OT)
2/27/2023     A         L          72 – 87
12/31/2022   H         W         90 – 83
2/21/2022     A         L          70 – 77
2/17/2022     H         W         61 – 58
 
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The Bears come into the week with a 17-11 overall record and a top three conference record, 10-5. Northern Colorado lost their latest matchup to Eastern Washington, 76-85, but won their previous two against Idaho and Sacramento State. Prior to coming to Pocatello on Saturday, UNC will face off with Weber State in Ogden, Utah on Thursday.
 
Weber State University Recap
The Bengals jumped out to an early 8-5 lead, thanks in part to two early triples from Miguel Tomley. Idaho State would stretch their lead to the largest of the first-half at eight points, 26-18, following a Brayden Parker three-point basket. Following two Weber State free-throws the teams would head into the locker rooms for halftime with Idaho State on top by six, 32-26.
 
Idaho State would come out of the halftime break on fire, bursting to a 6-0 run and extending their lead to the largest of the game at 12, 38-26 after a Kiree Huie layup coming with 18:09 remaining in the game. The Bengals would then go on a 7-0 run, moving their lead to 17 points, 54-37, after a Brayden Parker fadeaway jumper with 11:28 remaining in the contest. The Wildcats would cut the defeciet down to 11 points, but would never get closer than that. As ISU would lead by as many as 21 points in this one, they would go on to win by 18, 80-62. Earning the Bengals their first season sweep over Weber State in 20 years. After the win, Idaho State improves to 12-16 overall and 7-8 in Big Sky play. The Wildcats' winning streak will end at five, as they drop to 18-10 overall and 9-6 in Big Sky play.
 
Miguel Tomley led the way for Idaho State tonight, as he would have his best game of the season, putting up a season-high 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and making a career-high 6-of-11 three-pointers, six rebounds, and two assists. Brayden Parker would tally his third double-double on the season, putting up 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 from deep, tying a season-high 11 rebounds, and three blocks, while Maleek Arington would put up his first career double-double, totaling 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the floor, a career-high 10 assists, four steals, and two rebounds. Isaiah Griffin would end the game with six points and five rebounds, and the final starter for ISU, Kiree Huie, would end the contest with four points, two rebounds, one block, and one steal. Off the bench for the Bengals Briggs Ranstrom, AJ Burgin, and Trent Johnson would all play big roles. Most notably tonight was Briggs Ranstrom, as Ranstrom put up five points, four rebounds, and one assist in 23 minutes of action, but Ranstrom also provided Idaho State with many different hustle plays that did not show up in the stat sheet tonight, that helped the Bengals earn the win.
 
Following his 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks, Brayden Parker has cemented himself as one of the best Bengal big-men to ever dawn the Orange & Black. Parker now sits at 1,250 career points, just 10 shy of passing Brandon Boyd (2015-19) for 12th on the ISU All-Time Scoring list, 114 career blocks, tying Nate Green (1993-97) for 3rd on the ISU All-Time Blocks list, and 526 career rebounds, passing Logan Kinghorn (2004-08) & Jeffrey Solarin (2013-15) for 9th on the ISU All-Time Rebounding list. Parker also ranks 10th on the ISU All-Time Field Goals Made list, with 493, just six away from tying Jim Rodgers (1956-59) for 9th All-Time. With just three more games remaining in the regular season and one guaranteed conference tournament game, Parker currently sits 8th on the ISU All-Time Field Goal Percentage list, with 52.3%, and 8th on the ISU All-Time Blocked Shots Per Game list, with 1.01 per game.
Idaho State finished the game shooting 59.6 percent from the field, and 47.6 percent from three-point territory, going 10-of-21 from behind the arc. The Bengals tallied 13 assists, 32 rebounds, and 5 steals.
 
Weber State finished the game shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from three-point land (5-for-16). The Wildcats finished the game with 24 rebounds, 8 steals, and 6 assists.

The Returning 8
3          Maleek Arington       G         So.      6-3      200     Auburn, WA
10        Miguel Tomley         G         So.      6-3      200     Surrey, BC                
12        Turner Livingston     F          R-Fr.   6-4      195     Spokane, WA
13        AJ Burgin                   G         Jr.       6-3      205     San Diego, CA
14        Jordan Hansen         G         So.      6-6      215     Seattle, WA
20        Briggs Ranstrom      F          R-Fr.   6-6      205     Eagle, ID
25        Brayden Parker        C         Gr.       6-8      250     Preston, ID
44        Louis Stormark         C         R-So.  6-9      250     Alleroed, Denmark                          
 
Hello my name is
0          Kolton Mitchell         G         Fr.       6-1      175     Coeur d' Alene, ID   
4          Jaedyn Brown           G         Fr.       6-4      175     Pullman, WA            
5          Laolu Kalejaiye         G         Fr.       6-0      160     Los Angeles, CA      
15        Kiree Huie                  F          Jr.       6-9      220     Grayson, GA 
21        Isaiah Griffin             F          Jr.       6-6      210     Knightdale, NC                     
22        James Bodily            G         Fr.       6-3      200     Bancroft, ID              
30        Evan Otten                C         Fr.       6-11    220     Redmond, OR
31        Trent Johnson          F          Jr.       6-7      205     Cambridge, ON        
32        Gavin Gilstrap           C         Jr.       6-11    270     Spokane, WA
 
Bengal Bites

• Brayden Parker is now T-3^rd on the ISU career Blocks list with 114, tying Nate Green after recording 3 blocks in the Bengals game vs Weber State on Feb. 24^th
• Brayden Parker became the 25^th player in Idaho State history to reach the 1,000-career point mark after dropping 24 points in the Bengals' game vs Montana on Dec. 30^th
• Parker moved into 13^th place on the ISU All-Time Scoring list with 1,250 career points. Passing Amorrow Morgan (1,221) and Ron Boone (1,221) after recording 12 points at Idaho on Feb. 17^th
• Brayden Parker is 3^rd in the Big Sky in Field Goal Percentage, making 53.9% of his shots (66^th in the country)
• Brayden Parker is 3^rd in the Big Sky in Blocks (40) & 4^th BPG (1.43)
• Kiree Huie is 5^th in the Big Sky in Blocks (34) & BPG (1.21)
• Kiree Huie is 5^th in the Big Sky in Offensive Rebounds Per Game (2.04)
• Maleek Arington is 1^st in the Big Sky and 38^th in the nation in Assists (142) & 2^nd in the Big Sky and 44^th in the nation in APG (5.1)
• Maleek Arington is 2^nd in the Big Sky in Steals with 62 (15^th in the nation) & 2^nd in the Big Sky in SPG with 2.21 (19^th in the country)
• After Maleek Arington's 50-minute game at Northern Colorado he is now 2^nd in the Big Sky and 17^th in the nation in Minutes Per Game (36:17)
• Maleek Arington is 6^th in the Big Sky in Assist/Turnover Ratio (2)
• Miguel Tomley 2^nd in the Big Sky in 3-Point FGM (68) & 3-Point FGM Per Game (2.43)
• ISU has had a big defensive presence down low, averaging 3.6 blocks per game (2^nd in the Big Sky)
• Idaho State has been stingy on defense, plucking 6.8 steals per game (3^rd in the Big Sky)
• The Bengals defense is only allowing 68.7 PPG to opposing teams (2^nd in the Big Sky)
• Multiple Bengals have climbed in the single-season record books
  • Maleek Arington is just 4 assists away from tying Craig Murray (1989-90) for 10^th most assists in a single-season in ISU history
  • With 62 steals this season, Maleek Arington is already 6^th on the single-season steals list, and just six away from tying Jim Rhode (1987-88) for 3^rd, and is currently 7^th on the single-season SPG list, averaging 2.21 this season
  • Brayden Parker is 9^th on the single-season blocks list, currently with 40 & 9^th on the single-season BPG list, averaging 1.43 blocks per game
  • Kiree Huie needs just 4 more blocks to tie Scott Henry (2003-04) for 10^th on the single-season blocks list
  • Miguel Tomley has tied David Schroeder (2005-06) for 10^th on the single-season 3PM list, currently with 68

Looking Ahead
Following their final home games against NAU & UNC the Bengals will travel to Missoula, Montana for their final game of the 2023-24 regular season. The Montana Griz will host Idaho State on Monday, March 4^th at 7 pm for the regular season finale before the Big Sky Conference Tournament kicks off on March 9^th in Boise, Idaho.

Follow the Bengals
Follow along at ISUBengals.com to keep up to date with the team. Fans can also follow the Bengals on social media  (Twitter: @IdahoStateMBB | Instagram:@Idahostatembb | Facebook:@IdahoStateMensBasketball)