MOSCOW, Idaho - The Bengals men's basketball team began their final road trip of the regular season this week, traveling to Moscow, Idaho on Thursday for a date with rivals, the Idaho Vandals. The Bengals took down the Vandals in their first meeting earlier this season on Feb. 1
st, 87-71, and have defeated Idaho in 12 of their last 14 meetings. Idaho State would also look to secure the King Spud trophy for the 3
rd year in a row since introducing the trophy for the annual Idaho State – Idaho men's and women's basketball series.
To begin the game, Idaho State would take an early 10-8 lead, but the Vandals would go on a 17-6 run, giving themselves a 25-16 advantage over ISU. The Bengals managed to knot the score back up at 30 apiece late in the first half, before taking a 36-32 lead into the halftime break.
The Vandals jumped out quickly in the second half, going on a 13-3 run in just a little over three minutes of game time, allowing Idaho to take a 45-39 lead over the Bengals. Idaho State would play the Vandals closely until
Jake O'Neil would knock down a triple to tie the game up at 51 all with 9:07 remaining, the following possession,
Evan Otten would get an incredible one-handed tip-in to drop on the offensive glass, now giving ISU the lead, 53-51 with 8:12 left in the game. Down the stretch the Bengals and Vandals found themselves tied up at 62 with 3:38 to play, when
Jake O'Neil would drill another three-pointer, giving Idaho State a 65-62 lead with 3:06 to go. After a Bengals' defensive stop,
Evan Otten would once again get in on the scoring, dunking home a perfect feed from
Dylan Darling to put the Bengals up five, 67-62, with 2:12 to go. The game was not over yet, as Idaho came down the court and nailed a three-pointer, cutting the Bengal lead down to just two, 67-65, with 1:42 left. Both teams would miss front-end's of their one-and-one opportunities, which would come back to haunt the Vandals more than the Bengals, as Idaho would be unable to get their final layup attempt to fall with under 10 seconds on the clock, and
Dylan Darling would calmly make the final two free-throw attempts to put the game away with a final score of 69-65.
Idaho State will improve to 14-13 overall, and 9-7 in Big Sky Conference play. The University of Idaho will drop to 12-17 overall & 7-9 in Big Sky play.
This marks the first time Idaho State has had an overall record of above .500 this season, and the first time since Nov. 6
th, 2023, when the Bengals began their 2023-24 season 1-0.
With the win Bengals' Head Coach,
Ryan Looney, has now won 397 career games, needing just three more to reach career win number 400.
Dylan Darling would end the game with a game high, 19 points, on 7-15 shooting, five assists, four rebounds, three steals, and one block.
Connor Hollenbeck would drop score 13 of his 15 total points in the first half, shooting 5-9 in the game, while also grabbing four rebounds and one assist.
Jake O'Neil tallied 12 points on 5-11 shooting and 2-4 from beyond the arc, seven rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Big man,
Evan Otten, recorded eight points on 4-7 shooting, six rebounds, two steals, one blocks, and one assist, and the final Bengal starter,
Isaiah Griffin, would total four points, five rebounds, one steal, and one assist.
Off the bench for Idaho State,
Jackson Greene would put up five points on 2-4 shooting, four rebounds, one assist, and one steal in 18 minutes, and
AJ Burgin would tally three points on 1-4 shooting from three-point range and tying a season high with six rebounds in 20 minutes of action, Burgin's 3
rd most amount of playing time during conference play.
Blake Daberkow would round out the playing time for ISU in this one, as Daberkow would put up three points and two rebounds in five minutes.
Following the game, a handful of Bengals are making their mark in the single season, as well as the all-time ISU record books.
Senior captain,
AJ Burgin, has now appeared in 121 total games for the Orange & Black, tying him for 3
rd All-Time with Geno Luzcando (2014-18). If Burgin checks in to the Bengals' game at Eastern Washington on Saturday, he will be in sole possession of 3
rd place with 122 games played, as well as be just two games away from tying Donn Holston for 2
nd All-Time at 124 games played.
Redshirt-Freshman,
Evan Otten, has now blocked 63 shots this season, the 4
th most in a single season in Bengal history. Otten sits 11 blocks back of tying Steve Hays' 1974-75 season total of 74.
Dylan Darling sits on the cusp of cementing this season as one of the best anyone has ever seen out of an Idaho State guard. Darling is just three assists away from tying Mike Graefe (1985-86) & Erin Cowan (1992-93) for 9
th All-Time in single season assists. Darling is also just 20 points away from scoring 500 this season, he would become just the 26
th player in Bengal history to score 500+ points in a single season, and one of just three Bengal players to ever record 500+ points & 150+ assists in the same season, joining Ethan Telfair in 2015-16, and Marquis Poole in 2003-04. Darling also sits at 145 made FT's this season, just 15 shy of tying Ron Boone's 1966-67 total of 160 for 10
th most made FT's by an ISU player in a single season.
Jake O'Neil has now recorded 261 total rebounds this season, marking him just 24 shy of tying Edison Hicks' 1971-72 season total of 285 for 10
th place in a single season in Bengal history.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 41.5 percent from the field and 28.6% from deep, going 6-21 from three-point range. Idaho State ended the game with 39 rebounds, 12 assists, and 8 steals.
Idaho State earns their first win on the season when being outrebounded by another team, just the 5
th game this entire year where the Bengals have failed to win the rebounding margin. A big factor for the win was ISU's 40-18 scoring edge inside the paint.
Idaho finished the game shooting 35.9 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from three-point territory, going 13-37. The Vandals would finish with 44 boards, 6 steals, and 11 assists.
NEXT UP
Next up for the Bengals, they will head down to Cheney, WA to take on the Eastern Washington Eagles on Saturday, March 1
st at 3 P.M. MT.
Idaho State's game at EWU will be streamed on ESPN+, you can listen along live with Scott Gross on KISU, or you can follow along with LiveStats.
SUPPORT THE BENGALS!
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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