Austen Hunzeker
Staff Writer
The Idaho State men’s basketball team defeated the Southern Oregon Raiders 87-63 on Monday, Nov. 11, at Reeds Gym in the team’s home opener for the 2024-25 season.
The first half started out strong for the Bengals as they took the lead with a jump shot by guard Jake O’Neil and a three-pointer by point guard Dylan Darling. It was evident that the Bengals and the Raiders were desperate for the win as a back-and-forth scoring match began, leading the score to 11-7.
The Bengals managed to come out on top as freshman forward Evan Otten performed a scoring spree with a dunk and two free throws. The Raiders stayed close behind until the Bengals performed another scoring spree, boosting them to a 25-point lead.
Forward Connor Hollenbeck scored a layup, three-pointer, and tip-in, along with a free throw, tip-in, and two three-pointers by guard AJ Burgin, a jump shot by forward Blake Daberkow, a jump shot by point guard Quentin Meza, a free throw by forward Isaiah Griffin, and two free throws, a layup and a three-pointer by O’Neil. The continuous scoring took the Bengals up 43-18 with just five minutes and 20 seconds left in the half.
The Raiders certainly attempted a comeback, scoring 11 points in the remainder of the half. However, ISU stayed in the lead by 18 points, leaving as much space between their score and the Raiders as possible, bringing the first half to 47-29.
The Raiders set the tone for the second half, scoring 8 points within the first three minutes. Otten took the game back for the Bengals, scoring a jump shot, followed by a layup and free throw by Darling. A back-and-forth scoring session took the scoreboard to 61-46, the Raiders still showing that they wanted to catch up.
Guard Jaedyn Brown helped break the back-and-forth with a three-pointer and layup, followed by a dunk by O’Neil. Griffin scored four times in a row, tallying up a total of 7 points with a free throw and three layups, while Darling followed behind him, scoring twice with two free throws in a row.
O’Neil and Meza took turns with free throws, and with a bit of back-forth-scoring between both teams, the score settled at 87-63 after a final layup by raider Jack Chlumak. Throughout the course of the game, five Bengals scored double digits, including O’Neil, who scored the highest with 17 points.
Ryan Cheney gave the game recap for ISU, stating that “The Bengals finished the game shooting 48.5 percent from the field, and 31.8 percent from deep, finishing seven of 22 from three-point territory.”
Cheney also shared that the Bengals ended the game outrebounding the Raiders by 23 and finishing with 44 rebounds, 19 assists, and seven steals.
Bengal Burgin expressed that although the team won with a 24-point lead, there is still room to improve.
“I do feel that after we built ourselves a steady lead in the first half, we kind of got comfortable…I feel we grew complacent toward the end of the first half and to open up the second,” Burgin said. “As for strategy, it’s simple: just play harder than the other team. That’s been the strategy every year that I’ve been here, and I feel like this year, we have a great group of guys who are committed to playing basketball that way.”
The Bengals will be playing three away games in a row against the University of San Diego Bullfighters, the Cal State Fullerton Titans, and the UCLA Bruins on Nov. 16, 18 and 20. Games will be streamed on ESPN+, and the UCLA game will be streamed on the BIG10 Network.
