POCATELLO, Idaho - The Bengals men's basketball team hosted the Montana State Bobcats on Thursday evening. Playing their first of two regular season conference games against one another. The Bobcats come into the game having swept the Bengals last season, 2-0, and ride an 11-game winning streak over Idaho State.
Idaho State and Montana State would battle closely the entire first half. The Bobcats would gain a three-point edge, their largest lead of the first half, with 14:47 remaining in the half. Idaho State would respond by going on an 8-0 run, capped off by a
Connor Hollenbeck three-pointer to give ISU a 18-13 lead with 11:57 to play in the first. The Bengals would stretch their lead to a first half high, seven points, 30-23, after
Connor Hollenbeck's third triple in the first half. Montana State would climb within one point of ISU, but the Bengals extended their lead back to four before the halftime buzzer sounded. The Bengals would take their 35-31 lead into the locker rooms.
In the second half the Bengals pounced on the Bobcats, coming out of the locker room scorching hot, making their first seven shots in a row, and starting the half 9-10 shooting from the floor. By the time the Bengals had missed a shot they saw their lead balloon to a game-high 14 points, 56-42 with 12:48 to play. However, just as fast as they got hot, the Bengals went ice cold, making just three of their next 14 shot attempts, and allowing the Bobcats to go on a 24-6 run over the next 9:30 minutes, giving the Bobcats back the lead at 66-62 with just 3:14 remaining in the ballgame. Following the Bobcats' late game surge, the Bengals were desperate for a bucket, and team captain,
Jake O'Neil would deliver, getting the putback floater to fall to cut the MSU lead in half, trailing by just two with 2:47 remaining. Following a Bengals' defensive stand
Dylan Darling would race down the court and pull up for a quick two points, knotting both teams back up at 66 apiece. On the other end Idaho State would once again force a missed Bobcat shot attempt and come quickly down the court, this time for an
Evan Otten alley-oop lay-in off the dime from
Jake O'Neil to reclaim the lead for the Bengals, 68-66 with 1:32 left to play. The Bengal defense remained stout to finish off the game, getting another stop and
Dylan Darling would sink two at the charity stripe, extending Idaho State's lead to four with 44 seconds on the clock. Montana State would miss a desperation 3-point attempt, but on the ensuing possession,
Jake O'Neil would miss the front end of a 1-and-1 free-throw opportunity, and Montana State would draw a foul on the other end to shoot a pair of free-throw's themselves. After making the first MSU's Bryce Zephir would miss the second, leading to a long rebound and another foul on the Bengals, and Bryce Zephir was back at the line, this time for a 1-and-1 opportunity. After Zephir would miss the front end,
Dylan Darling would snare the rebound and the final buzzer would sound with a 70-67 final score, the Bengals first win over Montana State since 2018, ending an 11-game win streak for Montana State, and Head Coach
Ryan Looney's first career win vs. the Bobcats. To close the game out over the final three minutes the Bengals would go on an 8-1 run, holding the Bobcats to 0-4 shooting from the field and just 1-3 at the free-throw line during that span.
Idaho State will improve to 7-8 overall and 2-2 in Big Sky play. Montana State will be drop to 6-12 overall & 1-4 in Big Sky Conference play.
Connor Hollenbeck led all scorers in this one, finishing with a career high, 22 points, on 7-13 shooting from the field and 4-6 from three-point land, four rebounds, three assists, and one block in 35 minutes played.
Dylan Darling would end his night with 19 points on 6-15 shooting from the floor, five rebounds, five assists, and one steal in 36 minutes played.
Isaiah Griffin would tally nine points on 4-9 shooting from the field and four rebounds, and
Evan Otten would tally eight points on an efficient 4-6 shooting from the floor, six rebounds, and one steal. The final Bengal starter was
Jake O'Neil who would stuff the stat sheet, putting up six points on 3-6 shooting, 11 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and one block in 39 minutes of action.
Off the bench
Jackson Greene would contirubyte four points on 2-2 shooting and two rebounds in eight minutes, and
Blake Daberkow would record two points, one assist, and one rebound in 11 minutes.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 47.4 percent from the field, and 40 percent from deep finishing 6-15 from three-point land. Idaho State ended the game with 36 rebounds, 14 assists, and 6 steals.
Montana State finished the game shooting 39.3 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from three-point territory, going 12-31. The Bobcats would finish with 14 assists, 31 boards, and 7 steals.
Next up for Idaho State they will face off with the University of Montana on Saturday, Jan. 18
th at 6 P.M. in Reed Gym. ISU looks to win their first game over Montana in their last eight attempts, and goes for their first back-to-back wins over Montana State and Montana in 16 years, since the 2008-2009 season.
Idaho State's game versus Montana will be streamed on ESPN+, you can listen along live with Scott Gross and Brad Bugger on KISU, or you can follow along with LiveStats.
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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
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