FLAGSTAFF, Arizona - The Idaho State men's basketball team opened their Big Sky Conference slate on Thursday evening. Traveling to Flagstaff, Arizona to take on the Big Sky's best team out of non-conference play, the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks. The Bengals took the season series over the 'Jacks last year, 2-1, and have not lost in Flagstaff during the
Ryan Looney era, winning their last eight in a row at NAU. Their last loss in the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome coming back in 2016.
Northern Arizona would pounce on the Bengals quickly in this one, leading by seven points, 13-6 after the first five minutes of play. After the Bengals would slightly cut into the Lumberjacks' lead, 16-10, NAU would proceed to go on a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 16, 26-10 with 8:20 to play in the first half. Idaho State would battle the remainder of the half, ending on a positive note as they would outscore NAU by six the rest of the half, trailing by just 10 at the break, 36-26.
A disastrous start to the second half for Idaho State would lead to a 10-2 run for Northern Arizona in the first five minutes, as NAU would grow their lead to 18, 46-28. With 13:32 remaining in the game the Lumberjacks would take the largest lead of the contest, 19 points, 51-32. However, as Idaho State has done all season, they would refuse to go down without a fight. The Bengals would whittle away at the NAU lead, cutting it down to 15 points with 9:50 remaining, then just 10 points with 7:47 to play. Following an NAU jump shot the Bengals saw themselves down 12 with just over seven minutes in the game, and would turn it on from there, closing out the game on a 21-4 run while shooting an astounding 13-15 from the field, capped off by
Dylan Darling's game-winning layup as he would put his defender on skates with 53 seconds on the clock to give ISU a 69-67 lead. On the ensuing NAU possession Darling would lock down his defender with the time winding down and get the game-sealing block with less than 10 seconds on the clock. Following the 19-point comeback win, Idaho State improves to 6-6 overall and 1-0 to begin Big Sky play, earning their 9
th straight win in Flagstaff. Northern Arizona will be handed their first home loss of the 2024-25 season, falling to 9-5 overall & 0-1 to start conference play.
"I love the fight in this team. We could have folded" Says
Ryan Looney. "We are fortunate
Dylan Darling worked hard and got himself healthy. I thought our effort on the glass against another high-level rebounding team was good."
The 19-point deficit overcome by the Bengals marks the largest comeback win by Idaho State under Head Coach,
Ryan Looney. The previous largest comeback win by the
Ryan Looney-led Bengals was 13, when ISU once again pulled off the come from behind win in Flagstaff, during the 2021-22 season, defeating NAU by a final score of 70-66 on Feb. 24
th, 2021. This evening's 19-point comeback is the most an ISU team has overcome to win since the 2016-17 team would pull off a 20-point comeback win, also against Northern Arizona, on Feb. 2
nd, 2017.
The Bengal defense came into this game prepared for the Big Sky Preseason MVP, Trent McLaughlin, forcing him into playing one of his worst games of the season, holding the NCAA's 2
nd leading scorer to a season-low in scoring with 12 points on 4-18 shooting from the floor and a mere 2-11 from three-point territory.
Dylan Darling led all scorers tonight with 20 points on 5-10 shooting from the floor and a perfect 2-2 from three-point land while also going 8-10 at the free-throw line, seven assists, two steals, one rebound, and one block. Darling became the definition of clutch to close things out, putting the team on his back by scoring all 20 of his points in the final 13 minutes of the contest, single-handedly outscoring the Lumberjacks to finish off the game, 20-16.
Isaiah Griffin and
Jake O'Neil would also finish in double figures for scoring tonight. Griffin totaling 12 points on 5-11 shooting from the floor, two rebounds, two steals, and one assist, and O'Neil would end his night with his 4
th straight double-double and his 7
th on the season, scoring 11 points and bringing down 15 rebounds, while also putting up one block and one steal. The final two starters for the Bengals were their big men,
Connor Hollenbeck and
Evan Otten. Hollenbeck would end the game with six points, four rebounds, two assists, and one steal on a season-high 35 minutes of playing time, while Otten would total six points on a perfect 3-3 shooting, seven rebounds, three blocks, and one assist.
Off the bench,
Blake Daberkow would have his best game as a Bengal, scoring nine points on 4-6 shooting from the field and 1-1 from beyond the arc, two rebounds, and one assist in 17 minutes of action, and captain,
AJ Burgin, would add six points, one rebound, and one assist in 12 minutes. Also contributing off the bench for Idaho State was
Jackson Greene with two points, one steal, one rebound, and one assist in five minutes,
ESPN Analytics would give Northern Arizona a 98.6% chance of winning the game multiple times in the second half, however,
Ryan Looney would rally his Bengals and defy the odds to earn the program's largest come from behind victory in nearly a decade.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 46.4 percent from the field, and 38.5 percent from deep finishing 5-13 from three-point range. Idaho State ended the game with 41 rebounds, 14 assists, and 7 steals.
Northern Arizona finished the game shooting 39.7 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point territory, going 10-27. The Lumberjacks would finish with 15 assists, 33 boards, and 5 steals.
Next up for Idaho State is their first look at the Northern Colorado Bears this season. UNC is coming off of an 89-72 stomping over Weber State to open their conference schedule.
Tip-off between the Bengals and Bears is slated for 2:00 P.M. in Greeley, CO on Saturday, January 4
th. This game will be streamed on ESPN+, you can listen along live with Scott Gross on KISU, or you can follow along with LiveStats.
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