POCATELLO, Idaho - The Bengals men's basketball team will be on the road this week, traveling to Cheney Washington and Moscow, Idaho. The Eastern Washington Eagles will host the Bengals on Thursday, February 15th at 7 pm MT and the Idaho Vandals will host Idaho State on Saturday, February 17th at 3 pm MT. The Bengals lost their previous matchup to the Eagles this season in Reed Gym, and are 1-5 against EWU in their last six meetings. Whereas, versus Idaho, the Bengals have won their seven in a row and are 11-1 vs the Vandals in their last 12 meetings, including their 64-59 win in Pocatello earlier this season. Scott Gross will call the games on KISU and both games will be available to stream via ESPN+.
Eastern Washington (16-8)
Home (8-0), Away (8-8), Neutral (0-0)
ISU Recent Series vs. EWU
1/20/2024 H L 67 – 79
2/25/2023 H W 71 – 63
1/26/2023 A L 68 – 81
2/12/2022 A L 72 – 75
1/24/2022 H L 63 – 89
The Eagles come into their game with Idaho State with a 16-8 overall record and 10-1 record in conference play. Easter Washington has won their last 3 games in a row, with their last win coming at home against Idaho on last Saturday, 87-79.
University of Idaho (9-15)
Home (5-7), Away (3-8), Neutral (1-0)
ISU Recent Series vs. UI
1/18/2024 H W 64 – 59
2/23/2023 H W 65 – 55
1/28/2023 A W 95 – 91
2/10/2022 A W 79 – 70
1/15/2022 H W 81 – 74
The Vandals enter this week with a 9-15 overall record and 3-8 record in conference play. Idaho lost their latest matchup vs Eastern Washington last Saturday, but won their previous two vs Montana State and Sacramento State. Prior to facing Idaho State on Saturday, the Vandals will play Weber State on Thursday.
Portland State Recap
The Vikings would come away with the early lead in the game, unable to grow their lead past four before ISU would storm back to gain their first lead of the game after a Miguel Tomley steal and transition three-point basket, giving the Bengals a 15-14 advantage with 12:13 remaining in the first half. The Idaho State lead would be short lived as PSU would surge to lead by as many as eight points in the closing seconds of the half, however as both teams went into the locker rooms for the halftime break the Vikings would lead the Bengals by seven, 35-28.
Portland State would extend their lead to 11 points to begin the second half, but Miguel Tomley and Brayden Parker would combine for the next 10 Bengal points to cut the Vikings' lead down to just five with 12:09 to play, 46-41. Following a Brayden Parker block and Kiree Huie mid-range bucket Idaho State would find themselves down by just three with under six minutes to play, but on the following possession Brayden Parker would pick up his fourth foul, and the Bengals would need to find some scoring from someone else late. Kiree Huie stepped up in a big way, scoring the next 10 in a row for ISU, making all four free-throw attempts to tie the game at 63 apiece with 2:49 to play. Following a Viking dunk to go back up two points Idaho State once again needed a clutch bucket, after weaving his way through traffic Miguel Tomley would use a crafty finish to knot the contest back up, this time at 65 all coming with 2:04 remaining. Briggs Ranstrom would get two of his three steals in the final three minutes of the game, and his final steal would lead to the Bengals' Maleek Arington drawing the foul and going one-of-two at the line to give the Bengals a one-point advantage with 1:13 left in the game. Idaho State would lock down late, producing three consecutive stops in the clutch, and after two more Miguel Tomley free-throws the Bengals would bring home their third consecutive win, and their first sweep of the Portland State Vikings since the 2015-16 season. After the win, Idaho State improves to 11-14 overall and 6-6 in Big Sky play. Following the loss, Portland State falls to 14-11 overall and 5-7 in Big Sky play.
Miguel Tomley led Idaho State in scoring, totaling 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field, while also grabbing two rebounds, and one steal. Maleek Arington would put 13 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the floor, three assists, two steals, and one rebound. Kiree Huie would come up big late, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the final five minutes of the contest, while also grabbing five rebounds, and one block, and the final Bengal scoring in double figures was Brayden Parker, as he recorded his second double-double on the season totaling 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, tying a season-high with 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks. Isaiah Griffin would end the game with four points, one rebound, and one assist. Briggs Ranstrom and AJ Burgin would provide the Idaho State Bengals with great minutes off the bench as Ranstrom finished with three steals, one point, one assist, one rebound, and one block in 20 minutes. And Burgin would tally five points, three rebounds, two steals, and one assist in 25 minutes of action. The final Bengal getting in the scoring column tonight was Trent Johnson, as he had two points and one rebound in four minutes of play.
Following the win Head Coach, Ryan Looney, earns his 50th career win and 31st win in Big Sky play with the Bengals.
After his 12 points tonight, Brayden Parker moves into 15th place on the ISU All-Time scoring list, with 1,193 career points. Passing Jim Rodgers (1,186) and Geno Luzcando (1,189). Parker also now sits at 111 career blocks, needing just four more to pass Nate Green (114) for 3rd on the ISU All-Time blocks list.
Idaho State finished the game shooting 47.8 percent from the field, and 22.2 percent from three-point territory, going 4-of-18 from behind the arc. The Bengals tallied 8 assists, 27 rebounds, and 10 steals.
Portland State finished the game shooting just 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point land (7-for-14). The Vikings finished the game with 19 rebounds, 5 steals, and 9 assists.
The Returning 8
3 Maleek Arington G So. 6-3 200 Auburn, WA
10 Miguel Tomley G So. 6-3 200 Surrey, BC
12 Turner Livingston F R-Fr. 6-4 195 Spokane, WA
13 AJ Burgin G Jr. 6-3 205 San Diego, CA
14 Jordan Hansen G So. 6-6 215 Seattle, WA
20 Briggs Ranstrom F R-Fr. 6-6 205 Eagle, ID
25 Brayden Parker C Gr. 6-8 250 Preston, ID
44 Louis Stormark C R-So. 6-9 250 Alleroed, Denmark
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0 Kolton Mitchell G Fr. 6-1 175 Coeur d' Alene, ID
4 Jaedyn Brown G Fr. 6-4 175 Pullman, WA
5 Laolu Kalejaiye G Fr. 6-0 160 Los Angeles, CA
15 Kiree Huie F Jr. 6-9 220 Grayson, GA
21 Isaiah Griffin F Jr. 6-6 210 Knightdale, NC
22 James Bodily G Fr. 6-3 200 Bancroft, ID
30 Evan Otten C Fr. 6-11 220 Redmond, OR
31 Trent Johnson F Jr. 6-7 205 Cambridge, ON
32 Gavin Gilstrap C Jr. 6-11 270 Spokane, WA
Bengal Bites
- Brayden Parker is now 4th on the ISU career Blocks list with 111, passing Jeff Cook after recording 5 blocks in the Bengals game vs Eastern Washington on Jan. 20th
- Brayden Parker became the 25th player in Idaho State history to reach the 1,000-career point mark after dropping 24 points in the Bengals' game vs Montana on Dec. 30th
- Parker moved into 15th place on the ISU All-Time Scoring list with 1,193 career points. Passing Jim Rodgers (1,186) and Geno Luzcando (1,189) after recording 12 points vs Portland State on Feb. 10th
- Brayden Parker is 3rd in the Big Sky in Field Goal Percentage, making 53.9% of his shots (68th in the country)
- Brayden Parker is 3rd in the Big Sky in Blocks (37) & 4th BPG (1.48)
- Kiree Huie is 5th in the Big Sky in Blocks (32) & BPG (1.28)
- Kiree Huie is 3rd in the Big Sky in Offensive Rebounds Per Game (2.2)
- Maleek Arington is 1st in the Big Sky and 44th in the nation in Assists (121) & 3rd in APG (4.8)
- Maleek Arington is 2nd in the Big Sky in Steals with 55 (15th in the nation) & 2nd in the Big Sky in SPG with 2.2 (28th in the country)
- After Maleek Arington's 50-minute game at Northern Colorado he is now 2nd in the Big Sky and 23rd in the nation in Minutes Per Game (36:05)
- Maleek Arington is 5th in the Big Sky in Assist/Turnover Ratio (2.02)
- Miguel Tomley 1st in the Big Sky in 3-Point FGM (59) & 2nd in 3-Point FGM Per Game (2.36)
- ISU has had a big defensive presence down low, averaging 3.8 blocks per game (2nd in the Big Sky)
- Idaho State has been stingy on defense, plucking 7 steals per game (2nd in the Big Sky)
- The Bengals defense is only allowing 68.7 PPG to opposing teams (2nd in the Big Sky)
Looking Ahead
Following their games at Eastern Washington and the University of Idaho the Bengals will return to Reed Gym, for their final homestand of the season. Defending home court for three games. The first will be Saturday, February 24th vs Weber State at 6 pm, the second will be on Leap Day, Thursday, February 29th vs Northern Arizona at 7 pm, and the Bengals' 23-24 home finale will be Saturday, March 2nd vs Northern Colorado at 6 pm.
Follow the Bengals
Follow along at ISUBengals.com to keep up to date with the team. Fans can also follow the Bengals on social media (Twitter: @IdahoStateMBB | Instagram:@Idahostatembb | Facebook:@IdahoStateMensBasketball)