POCATELLO, Idaho - The Idaho State men's basketball team hosted the Weber State Wildcats on Saturday evening. Playing their first of two regular season conference games against one another. The Bengals swept the Wildcats last season, the first time in 20 years.
Idaho State and Weber State would battle in a hard-fought, tight first-half. The Wildcats would gain the largest lead of the half right before the halftime break, taing a six point advantage into the locker room, as the Bengals trailed the Wildcats, 30-36.
In the second half the Wildcats would take it to the Bengals, stretching their lead to as many as 13 points. The Bengals would cut the lead down to seven with under 30 seconds remaining, however, it would be too little too late as the Bengals would fall to the Wildcats by a final score of 77-69.
Idaho State will drop to 6-8 overall and 1-2 in Big Sky play. Weber State will be move to 7-10 overall & earn their first conference win of the season, improving to 1-2.
Dylan Darling led the Bengals in scoring for the third consecutive game since returning to the starting lineup after missing Idaho State's final two non-conference games in December. Darling ended his day with a career-high 28 points on 10-17 shooting from the floor and 3-8 from deep, three assists, two blocks, and one steal. Darling would exit this game late in the second half with a hand injury after taking a hard swipe from a Wildcat defender on a driving layup attempt.
Jake O'Neil would tally 15 points on 5-12 shooting from the field, 14 rebounds (10 offensive, 4 defensive), two steals, two assists, and one block.
Isaiah Griffin would finish with seven points and three rebounds, and the final two starters were
Connor Hollenbeck and
Evan Otten. Hollenbeck putting up five points and two rebounds, and Otten would total two points, four rebounds, three steals, and one block.
Off the bench
Jaedyn Brown would come in and score six points to go along with two steals and one assist in just two minutes of playing time, and
Jackson Greene would put up four points, four rebounds, and one assist in 16 minutes of playing time. To finish off the scoring for the Bengals,
Blake Daberkow would tally two points and one assist in 10 minutes played.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 40 percent from the field, and 22.7 percent from deep finishing just 6-27 from three-point range. Idaho State ended the game with 32 rebounds, 10 assists, and 9 steals.
Weber State finished the game shooting 58.8 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from three-point territory, going 7-16. The Wildcats would finish with 12 assists, 29 boards, and 9 steals.
Next up for Idaho State they will see the Montana's come to town. The Bengals will host the Montana State Bobcats on Thursday, Jan. 16
th at 7 P.M. as the Bengals search for their first win over MSU in the last 12 tries. Idaho State will then go up against the Montana Grizzlies on Saturday, Jan. 18
th at 6 P.M. as ISU looks to win their first game over Montana in their last seven attempts.
Both games will be streamed on ESPN+, you can listen along live with Scott Gross on KISU, or you can follow along with LiveStats.
