GREELEY, Colorado –The Bengals men's basketball team found themselves traveling to Greeley, Colorado on Thursday night for a date with one of the top teams in the conference, Northern Colorado.
The Bears would start the game hot, bursting to a 16-4 lead just 7 minutes into the contest. The Bengals would trail by as many as 13 points in the first half, but they would not get down on themselves as they would go on a 9-3 run, cutting the deficit to just six points, 20-26 with 6:26 left in the first. Idaho State was able to bring themselves within two late in the half, but after a Bears' layup the teams would head into the locker rooms for the halftime break with UNC leading by four, 34-30.
The second half began much like the first, with the Bears growing their lead over Idaho State to double-digits early, pushing their lead to 11 points, 45-34 just 5 minutes into the second half. However, the Bengals were far from finished as they would go on an 8-0 run to pull themselves within three points, 42-45 with just under 12 minutes to play. Idaho State would take their first lead of the half after a tough Isaiah Griffin and-1, 50-49 with just 9 minutes left in the game. It would be back-and-forth between the two teams until the very end, as Miguel Tomley banked in a deep three-pointer to give ISU a four-point advantage with just 1:56 remaining. Unfortunately for Idaho State they were unable to score for the remainder of the second half and would give up four straight free-throws to the Bears to allow them to tie the game late at 60 apiece and send it to overtime.
In overtime both teams were cooking, with neither team able to grab a lead bigger than four points. Following two good free-throws by AJ Burgin to put the Bengals up three with just 5 seconds remaining this game seemed all but over, however, as the Bears threw up a desperation attempt the Bengals were whistled for a shooting foul with under 3 seconds on the clock to give UNC a chance to tie it with three free-throws, and they did just that, sending this game to 2OT with the scored all knotted up at 78.
In double overtime both teams cooled off a bit from the first, but Idaho State found themselves leading by one with 1:19 left in the game after another Miguel Tomley three-pointer. But it would be the free-throws and fouling that once again would plague the Bengals in late game situations. As Idaho State would go just 13-of-22 from the charity stripe in both of the overtime periods combined and only 3-of-9 in the second overtime period, including team captain, Brayden Parker, shooting a mere 2-for-10 from the line in both overtime periods combined. Leaving costly points at the stripe as they would go on to lose the game by five points, 86-91. After picking up the loss, Idaho State falls to 8-14 overall and 3-6 in Big Sky play. Following the win, Northern Colorado moves to 13-8 overall and 6-2 in Big Sky play.
Brayden Parker led the Bengals in scoring tonight, dropping a season-high 26 points on 8-of-20 shooting from the field, going 7-for-15 from the free-throw line, while also grabbing nine rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and one steal. Miguel Tomley had one of his best games on the season, tying a season-high in scoring with 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the floor and 4-of-9 from three-point territory, two rebounds, and two assists, and fellow starting guard, Maleek Arington would put up 17 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field, a career-high eight rebounds, and tied his career-high in assists with seven (6th time this season) as he played in all 50 minutes, a new career-high and the most in a single game this season by any player in the Big Sky Conference. Isaiah Griffin would tally seven points and five rebounds, and the final starter, Kiree Huie, would finish with two blocks and one rebound. Off the bench, AJ Burgin and Briggs Ranstrom would play huge roles for Idaho State. Burgin would finish with six points, a career-high seven rebounds, two steals, and one assist in a career-high 39 minutes of action. While Ranstrom would tally six points, a career-high eight rebounds, one block, one steal, and one assist in a career-high 28 minutes played.
Following Brayden Parker's season high of 26 points he now moves into 18th place on the ISU All-Time Scoring list with 1,142 career points, passing Ethan Telfair (1,119) and Nate Green (1,141). Parker also now sits at 107 career blocks, just eight blocks shy of passing Nate Green (114) for 3rd on the ISU All-Time Blocks list.
Idaho State finished the game shooting 38 percent from the field, and 34.5 percent from three-point territory, going 10-of-29 from behind the arc (Tied for most 3-point attempts in a game this season). The Bengals tallied 13 assists, 48 rebounds (Tied most in a game this season), and 4 steals.
Northern Colorado finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and 45 percent from three-point land, going 9-for-20 (Tied for most 3-Pointers allowed in a game this season by the Bengal defense). The Bears finished with 36 rebounds, 8 steals, and 14 assists.
The Bengals men's basketball team will wrap their four-game road trip in Flagstaff, Arizona on Saturday as the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks will host the Bengals for tip-off at 2 pm.
