Idaho State women advance to tournament semifinals, Bengal men fall to Montana State

BOISE — The Idaho State men’s basketball team traveled to Boise, Idaho for the Big Sky Conference Tournament’s third round, as the Bengals took on the No. 5 seed and three-time reigning tournament champions the Montana State.

Montana State finished the game on an 11-0 run to defeat the Bengals 80-60 and end Idaho State’s season.

Idaho State finishes the season 15-15 overall. Montana State improved to 15-17 overall and moves on to the semifinal round of the Big Sky Tournament to play the top-seeded Northern Colorado Bears Tuesday evening.

The Bengals and Bobcats split their season series earlier this year, both teams winning their home contests.

Idaho State took an early 2-0 lead, however, the Bobcats would storm on a 9-1 run to take a 9-3 lead with 15:15 to play in the first half. ISU climbed within one, 12-13, but MSU would respond with a 14-2 run, giving the Bobcats a 27-14 lead with 7:04 to go in the half.

Montana State grew its lead to 17 points at 39-22 with 2:40 to go. The Bengals found some life late in the half, outscoring MSU 7-2 over the final two minutes and thirty seconds, and would go in the halftime locker rooms trailing 41-29.

The Bengals would come out of the locker rooms ice cold, beginning the half 0-7 from the field and 0-2 from 3-point range, allowing Montana State to go on a 10-0 run to open the half, falling behind 29-51 with 15:09 to play. Jake O’Neil would finally get a basket to fall for the Bengals, scoring an and-one with 15:02 to go, putting the score at 51-32.

Both teams would score five points apiece before the next media timeout would occur with 11:57 to play, the Bengals now trailing, 37-56.

Dylan Darling and Jake O’Neil would both end the game with 16 points apiece.

Darling, the Big Sky MVP and Newcomer of the Year, would score 16 on 5 of 16 shooting, with three rebounds, and two assists. Team captain Jake O’Neil would end the game with 16 points on 7 of 15 shooting, with seven rebounds, one block, and one steal. Big man Evan Otten finished with two points and seven rebounds, Connor Hollenbeck would put up six points, four rebounds, one steal, and one assist, and Isaiah Griffin tallied three rebounds and a block.

Off the bench for Idaho State Blake Daberkow would lead the way, jumping out with 11 quick points in the first half, but would be held scoreless in the second half, ending his night with 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting and five rebounds in 16 minutes of play. AJ Burgin would total six points and two rebounds in 22 minutes, Jackson Greene would total two assists, one rebounds, and one steal in 17 minutes of play.

Following the game, senior captain AJ Burgin has now appeared in 124 total games for ISU, tying him for second All-Time in total games played at Idaho State, tying Donn Holston.

Evan Otten ended his Redshirt season with 66 blocks, putting him fourth in a single season in blocks at Idaho State and ties him for the Big Sky’s Freshman single-season record, tying Eastern Washington’s Venky Jois’ 2012-13 Freshman year. Otten will also end the year averaging 2.2 Blocks per game, good enough for fifth in a single season in Bengal history.

Darling has become the third Bengal to record 500+ points and 150+ assists in a single season, joining Ethan Telfair in 2015-16, and Marquis Poole in 2003-04.

Darling finished this year sixth all-time in a single season in assists, with 160 on the season, and fourth in assists per game in ISU single season history, averaging 5.71 per game. Darling has also joined the ISU single season scoring list, becoming just the 27th player in ISU history to score 500+ points in a single season. Darling will end the year with 554 points scored, tying him with Bengal great Ron Boone from the 1967-68 season, for 14th on the single season scoring list. Darling finishes the year with 162 made FT’s, moving him into 10th in a single season in ISU history, passing Ron Boone’s 1966-67 total of 160.

Jake O’Neil ended the season with 278 total rebounds, good enough for 11th most in a single season in Bengal history, and the most rebounds by a Bengal in a single season in nearly 50 years. O’Neil will end the year just seven shy of tying Edison Hicks’ 1971-72 season total for 10th.

Connor Hollenbeck would get in on the record action, finishing this season shooting 85.5% (53-62) from the free-throw line, the eighth most accurate season from the stripe when making 50+ free-throws in a year.

The Bengals would struggle to find the bottom of the net, finished the game shooting just 33.3% from the field (22-66) and just 21.7% from deep, going 5-23 from 3-point range, although they would attempt 14 more shots than Bobcats. Idaho State ended the game with 35 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals.

Montana State finished the game shooting 63.5% (33-52) from the field and 41.7% from 3-point territory, going 10-24. MSU would finish with 30 boards, four steals, and 21 assists.

WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT

The Idaho State Bengals dominated the Weber State Wildcats 62-42 in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament Monday afternoon. The win earns the Bengals a spot in the semifinals, taking on the No. 1 seed Montana State Bobcats.

The Bengals put together a suffocating defense in the game highlighted by only allowing 15 points out of the Wildcats in the first half.

The 15 points allowed is the lowest the Bengals have held any opponent since the 2016 win over Wisconsin.

Take a look at some of these numbers. The Wildcats were held to 12 baskets and 22% shooting overall, and 8/28 behind the arc. That means Weber made only four two-point baskets. ISU shot 45 percent overall and 8/16 on threes.

ISU used eight steals to force 18 turnovers and score 20 points off those turnovers. The Bengals scored 26 points in the paint to eight.

First-team all-leaguer Taylor Smith, who scored over 40 points in the two teams’ two regular-season meetings, was held to 0/11 shooting and two points.

The game’s first three minutes set the tone as ISU led 8-0 and Weber had six turnovers their first seven possessions. ISU led 32-15 at halftime.

Piper Carlson tied for game-high with 16 points on 6/7 shooting and added seven boards. Kacey Spink did Kacey things, a lot of them. Her 10 points were nice, and so were her eight rebounds, three assists, four steals and three blocks. Spink had two steals and a block in Weber’s futile first three minutes.

Tasia Jordan added 10 points and five boards, Nika Lokica scored nine, Sophia Covello and Alyse Aby eight each and Covello had three steals.

The Bengals advance in the Big Sky Tourney and play regular-season champ Montana State at noon Tuesday. The Bobcats are 2-0 vs. ISU with a 94-52 romp in Bozeman and a much-tougher 74-60 win in Pocatello. ISU Coach Seton Sobolewski is noted for having the Bengals peaking for postseason play—they looked to be peaking very nicely today.