Madeline Leavitt
Sports Editor
Four seniors played their final home game for the men’s basketball team last Saturday in a game that resulted in a 74-69 loss to Eastern Washington.
At the end of the season, Erik Nakken, Hayes Garrity, Kyle Ingram, and Geno Luzcando will turn up their jerseys and move on to new adventures outside of Bengal basketball.
“All of these guys are really different,” said head coach Bill Evans. “They are all very important.”
Ingram, a graduate student forward out of Orange, California only played for 12 games this season due to being diagnosed with Paget-Schroetter syndrome which is a rare condition in which blood clots form deep in the veins of the arms. The syndrome sidelined him for the rest of the year.
Ingram redshirted the 2016-17 season and was a large part of the defensive end of the floor for the Bengals. In the games that he did play during his senior season, Ingram had 10 blocks, 29 assists, and 48 points.
“Kyle was very, very dependable,” Evans said. “When you needed something a specific way, he can do just that.”
Luzcando, a senior point guard for the Bengals from Santiago, Chile, played a large role both offensively and defensively for the Bengals. This season, he is currently averaging 31.5 minutes, 10 points per-game, 4.7 rebounds per-game, and two steals per-game.
“I feel sad but happy at the same time,” Luzcando said. “It’s closing a chapter on my life, a very important one because it is closing another chapter is coming so I am happy for that too.”
Luzcando is the all-time steals leader for the Bengals. In the 2015-16 season he was the only player to start every game and started 31 of 32 games in the 2016-17 season. Luzcando says that he would love to continue to play basketball, but if he can get his master’s degree he would love to do that.
“It feels good to be the all-time steals leader,” Luzcando said. “I can say anytime that I come back ‘oh yeah I am the one.”
Nakken who is originally from Cedar City, Utah wore the number 11 jersey for the Bengals. He is a redshirt senior guard for ISU, last season he played all 32 games and averaged 2.3 points with 12.4 minutes a game.
Nakken has earned the Wendy’s All-American Academic and Academic All-State awards with his 4.0 GPA. He is graduating with a degree in biology and a degree in German, and currently looking at three different medical schools, University of Utah and two schools in St. Louis.
“I have had a lot of good experiences here,” Nakken said. “I’m glad I came to ISU. I’m grateful to the coaches for the opportunity, and maybe a few things down the road I would have changed but overall, it has been good.”
Evans said that Nakken is a guy with great integrity, and that was something he brought to the team and the court.
Garrity, a graduate guard from Beaverton, Oregon, has had an up and down career with the Bengals due to knee injuries. He is currently eight months out of surgery and started practicing at the six-month mark.
His wife has one more season of volleyball left, so Garrity will be staying in Pocatello for now.
“Hayes has experienced some really tough luck,” said Evans. “He is very hard working, he has been with us the whole time, been supportive and maybe his time is coming, I hope it is.”
On senior night, Ingram could not play due to his injury, but Novak Topalovic wore the number 35 jersey in his honor. Garrity had 16 minutes of play with 5 points and 1 assist. Nakken played for 15 minutes with 1 assist. Luzcando played for 32 minutes and had 13 points, 2 steals, and 4 assists.
The Bengals had a late rally in the game to give them the chance to win, but Eastern Washington was able to come out with the victory in the end.
“It’s always hard to replace experience,” Evans said. “Experience is a really important ingredient in winning and success. I think the future is bright, we need to finish strong and we will worry about next year when next year gets here but we certainly have some experience coming back.”
