Taylor Meeks
Sports Editor
Last weekend, the Idaho State University men and women’s basketball teams played its final matches of the regular season against Eastern Washington and University of Idaho before heading into the 2020 Big Sky Conference tournament held on March 9-14 in Boise at the CenturyLink Arena.
The women’s team split the weekend after defeating EWU, 77-49, Wednesday night and falling to Idaho, 61-50, Friday night in Reed Gym. Before the Vandals handed ISU the loss, the team had a five-game winning streak going.
“I don’t think [the loss is] necessarily a bad thing, you know, sometimes it’s good to get your attention going into the conference tournament,” said head coach Seton Sobolewski. “There’s been years where we’ve had three game losing streaks going into the conference tournament and then made it into the championship game. I think everybody knows going into that tournament that the reset button has been hit and things are wide open.”
The lady Bengals (17-12 overall, 13-7 BSC) enter the tournament as the number three seed. Securing a first-round bye, the team took the court on Tuesday, March 10 and played the winner of the Southern Utah and Weber State match. The results of the game were unavailable at the time this edition went to print.
Against Southern Utah, Idaho State went 1-1 during regular season play after losing its first contest, 72-65, in Cedar City and winning the second meeting, 73-54, in Reed Gym. The Bengals went 2-0 in regular season against the Wildcats with the first victory, 65-54, at Weber and the second win, 55-41, in Reed Gym.
“I think you’ve got to play hard, just do what you always do and try not to play out of character or do something different than what you normally do,” Sobolewski said. “[Coaches and players] go into the conference tournament thinking, ‘I’m going to step it up.’ Well, if you can step it up, why didn’t you do it every game? Why are you holding back for the conference tournament? You don’t want to play that way.”
The last time the Idaho State women’s team claimed the championship title at the Big Sky tournament was in 2012 when it defeated Northern Colorado in Reed Gym, 49-46. Since then, the Bengals have made it to the quarterfinals three times, the semi-finals twice and the championship game twice.
The Orange and Black has made a Big Sky tournament appearance every year since 2004. The lady Bengals have claimed the championship title three times since its first appearance in 1991, including the 2012 title victory.
“Everyone knows everyone,” said junior guard Dora Goles. “Everyone has their scouting down, everyone knows what they’re good at and I feel like it’s just going to be who’s the toughest, who’s going to play the hardest.”
Looking at the men’s team, however, there’s a bit of a different story to be told. The Bengals unfortunately concluded its regular season play on a sour note as the team dropped both away contests first in Cheney, Wash. Thursday night, 100-77, and then in Moscow, Idaho Friday afternoon, 80-76.
The men’s team (7-22 overall, 4-16 BSC) enters the tournament as the last seed at No. 11 and will play the third game on Wednesday, March 11. This marks the first time ISU enters the tournament under the direction of head coach Ryan Looney.
“It’d feel better if we had a little bit of momentum going,” Looney said. “We lost a close one at Idaho [Saturday], but the group that we’ve been playing with all year is at least healthy. I think everyone is in a good frame of mind right now.”
In Big Sky tournament play, the Bengals haven’t seen success since beating Northern Colorado, 67-60, on March 7, 2009. ISU hasn’t hosted first round tournament games in Pocatello since the 2008 game against Montana, in which the Bengals won 67-65, and the 2009 Northern Colorado game.
The Orange and Black last won the conference championship title during the 1986-87 season when it finished the regular season 5-9 and took down Nevada, 92-81. The farthest the men’s team has gone since the victory was the semi-finals in 2008 and 2009. The Bengals are 16-25 overall in Big Sky Conference tournament play.
The men’s team will play Northern Arizona in its first round of the tournament. The Bengals were 1-1 in regular season against the Lumberjacks, first defeating them in Flagstaff, 71-67, and then falling, 88-87, in Reed Gym.
“We feel good about the opponent we are playing against,” Looney said. “I honestly don’t think we will make too many adjustments against them from the first two times we played. Essentially, we missed two free throws at home, and if we would have made one of those two, we would be two and zero against them right now.”
The results of the men’s game Wednesday and the women’s game Tuesday were unavailable at the time this edition went to print. Results are available on the ISU Athletics website (isubengals.com) or on the Big Sky Conference website (bigskyconf.com).
