POCATELLO, Idaho –The Idaho State men's basketball team played their final game in Reed Gym of the 2023-24 season tonight. The Bengals also honored their lone senior,Brayden Parker, for senior night prior to tip-off.
The Bengals jumped out to an early 5-2 lead, thanks to an early Miguel Tomley triple. However, Northern Colorado would respond with a 13-2 run, to take a 15-7 lead with 15:47 to play in the first half. Idaho State would have a response of their own, tying the game up at 19 apiece. Both teams would rain it on late in the first half, as neither team would allow the other to pull away. We would go into the halftime break with UNC leading ISU by just three points, 41-38.
The entire second half was a slugfest with one team thinking they might pull away, and the other always having something left to bring them back. The Bears found themselves with the largest lead of the game at eight points, 77-69 with just 2:44 to play. Idaho State would be able to climb within two points of UNC, but when it mattered most the Bears would sink their free-throws at the charity stripe to give themselves a lead that the Bengals could not come back from, as the Bengals would fall to the Bears on Senior Night, 81-79. Following the loss, Idaho State falls to 12-18 overall and 7-10 in Big Sky play. The Bears will improve their record to 18-12 overall and 11-6 in Big Sky play.
Maleek Arington was the top scorer for Idaho State tonight, as four Bengals would finish in double figures for scoring. Arington would tie his career-high with 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field, four steals, one rebound, and one assist. Brayden Parker would finish his home playing career putting up 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor, three rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and two steals, and fellow big man, Kiree Huie, would finish the game with 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field, four rebounds, a career-high four assists, a career-high four blocks, and tying his career-high in steals with 3. The final Bengal scoring in double figures tonight was Miguel Tomley who dropped 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting from deep, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals. The final Bengal starter, Isaiah Griffin, would end the game with six points on 2-of-3 shooting from the floor, four rebounds and four assists. Off the bench for the Bengals, AJ Burgin would play 24 big minutes and provide a big boost for ISU, recording five points, four rebounds, two steals, and one assist.
Following his 19 points, Brayden Parker moves into 11th on the ISU All-Time Scoring list with 1,280 career points, passing David Schroeder (1,265). After recording two blocks tonight Parker is also now T-7th in the ISU Single-Season Blocks record book, tying Kelvin Jones (2018-19) with 44 blocks on the season, and in 8th in the ISU Single-Season Blocks Per Game list, averaging 1.47 per game this season. After playing in the game tonight Parker has now played in 115 career games, moving him into sole possession of 6th place All-Time at ISU, and he has now played in 2,733 career minutes, passing Logan Kinghorn (2,709) for 10th All-Time at ISU.
Following his 4 steals in tonight's game, Maleek Arington, is now top-10 in steals in ISU history. Arington is now at 111 career steals, passing Jim Potter (1991-95) for 9th place on the ISU All-Time Steals list. Arington sits at 72 steals on the season, 3rd All-Time in a Single-Season at Idaho State, just 2 behind Ethan Telfair (2015-16) for 2nd All-Time and 10 behind Jim Rhode who set the Bengal Single-Season Steals record at 82 in the 1988-89 season. Arington is also averaging 2.4 steals a game this season, currently tying him for 3rd on the ISU Single-Season Steals Average list with Ethan Telfair's 2015-16 campaign. Maleek Arington sits at 146 assists on the season, tying him with Craig Murphy (1989-90) for 10th All-Time in a Single-Season at Idaho State.
Miguel Tomley has now made 74 three-pointers on the season, moving him into 8th place All-Time in a single-season. Tomley needs just 8 more on the season to tie himself with Tim Erickson (2000-01) for the most 3PM in a single-season in Bengal history.
Kiree Huie has also etched his name into the Bengals' Single-Season record books. After recording a career-high 4 blocks, Huie is now at 39 blocks on the season, passing Scott Henry (2003-04) for 10th most blocks in a single-season for the Orange & Black. Huie is now averaging 1.3 blocks per game this season, tying him for what would currently be 12th on the ISU Single-Season list with Nate Green's 1996-97 season.
Idaho State finished the game shooting 48.3 percent from the field, and 36.4 percent from three-point territory, going 8-of-22 from behind the arc. The Bengals tallied 16 assists, 20 rebounds, and 13 steals (Tied for most in a game this season).
Northern Colorado shot the lights out in this one, finishing the game shooting 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point land (10-for-20). The Bears finished the game with 29 rebounds, 5 steals, and 17 assists (T-4th most allowed by ISU in a game this season).
The Idaho State men's basketball squad will have their 2023-24 season finale on Monday night in Missoula, Montana at 7 pm. As the University of Montana Griz host the Bengals for the final regular season game of the year before the Big Sky Conference Tournament kicks off in Boise, Idaho on March 9th.