OGDEN, Utah - The Idaho State men's basketball team traveled down the I-15 to take on the Weber State Wildcats for the second time this season. The Bengals were looking to avenge their loss to WSU from earlier this season inside Reed Gym.
The Bengals would come out of the gates strong, taking the lead early and growing their lead to double digits, 27-16, following an
Isaiah Griffin layup off a beautiful inbounds play with 8:38 remaining in the half. The Wildcats would respond by going on a 7-2 run, cutting the Bengals' lead to just five, 29-24, with 4:08 to play in the half. The Bengals would head into the locker rooms with the 37-31 advantage.
To begin the second half both teams would battle closely, Weber State would cut Idaho State's lead down to just one, 44-43, with 13:29 to play. Idaho State would fend the Wildcats off until they would reclaim their first lead since the score was 6-5, at 55-53 with 9:34 to play.
Dylan Darling responded immediately for ISU, drilling a triple to give the lead back to the Bengals, 56-55, however once again Weber would answer, drilling the two-point jump shot to regain the lead 57-56. The Bengals and Wildcats would exchange buckets when
Dylan Darling would drain two huge free-throws', extending their lead to three points, 66-63 with 1:29 remaining in the ballgame. Weber State answered with a big alley-oop jam, cutting the lead back down to one, 66-65. The ensuing possession
Connor Hollenbeck would draw the foul, and in the one-and-one situation he would hit them both, giving the Bengals a three-point lead yet again. With the clock winding down on the Wildcats they would force a layup attempt that
Evan Otten would block, and after drawing the foul
Dylan Darling would miss the front end of the one-and-one, and Weber State would race to the other end and finish the layup.
With the lead back down to one and under 10 seconds on the clock, the Bengals knew they needed to make their next two free-throw attempts.
Dylan Darling stepped up to the stripe and did just that, knocking both attempts down. ISU now with a 70-67 lead and just 7.1 ticks on the game clock left. Weber State would inbound under their own basket, and the Bengals would foul two times in a row, on purpose, to send the Wildcats to the line in the one-and-one opportunity. With 5.3 remaining WSU miss the front end, and
Evan Otten would snare the rebound, getting fouled almost immediately and he would head to the free-throw for two shots. Otten would calmly drain both, and clinch the win for Idaho State, 72-67.
Idaho State will improve to 11-11 overall, and 6-5 in Big Sky play, tying them for 3
rd in the conference standings with Portland State. Weber State will fall to 9-16 overall & 3-8 in Big Sky Conference play.
Following the win, Idaho State will secure their third straight win in Dee Events Center, their longest road winning streak in their 143-game rivalry against Weber State. Head Coach,
Ryan Looney will move to 4-0 in Dee Events Center, and secure career win #394, needing just six more to reach career win 400.
Dylan Darling led the game in scoring, finishing with a new career high, 30 points, on 9-16 shooting from the field and 3-9 from deep, four rebounds, three assists, and tying his career high with four steals.
Jake O'Neil put up 14 points on 6-10 shooting from the field, seven rebounds, three assists, and one steal.
Connor Hollenbeck would be the final Bengal in starter in double figures for scoring, tallying 10 points on 3-6 shooting from the floor, seven big rebounds, and one assist.
Evan Otten and
Isaiah Griffin would be the other two starters for Idaho State, Otten totaling six points, six rebounds, one block, and one steal, and Griffin would put up four points, four rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
Jackson Greene would play 17 minutes off the bench for ISU, ending his night with six points on a perfect 3-3 shooting from the field three rebounds, and one steal. The final Bengal player to get into the scoring book was
Blake Daberkow, totaling two points and two rebounds.
AJ Burgin would contribute with one rebound, one assist, and one steal in 12 minutes of action.
The Bengals finished the game shooting 43.3 percent from the field, and 22.7% from deep, finishing just 5-22 from three-point land. Idaho State ended the game with 35 rebounds, 9 assists, and 9 steals.
Weber State finished the game shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from three-point territory, going 7-12. The Wildcats would finish with 10 assists, 27 boards, and 5 steals.
NEXT UP
Next up for the Bengals, they will travel to the Montana's, taking on the University of Montana on Thursday, Feb. 13
th followed by a date with Montana State University on Saturday, Feb 15
th.
Both games 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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