ISU Bengal

Issue date: 1/31/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Samantha Evans #1, Amorrow Morgan, shoots a basket for ISU in the game vs. Portland State

Saturday night the Bengals dropped to an 18 point deficit early in the second half against Portland State University. Good defense and clutch points helped ISU retake the lead. In the last few seconds, the final foul shots from both teams determined the game in Portland State's favor, 65-67.

"We opened the game with some energy," stated Coach O'Brien. The Bengals fired out at the beginning and made six quick points to leave the Vikings behind at 6-0. A six minute dry streak by ISU gave the Vikings a chance to regain some ground. With just ten minutes left in the first half the Vikings caught up and tied the Bengals 9-9.

Austin Kilpatrick ended the streak by making a quick pass to Nicholas Rhodes. He made a short jumper and gave the Bengals the lead 11-9. Kilpatrick had six points and dished out three assists. Rhodes led the team in rebounds by snatching seven balls off the boards. Portland State's Paul Hafford shot two three-pointers and led the Vikings with 21 points for the game. The first half ended with PSU leading the game 27-21.

ISU had 22 fouls for the team and PSU had 19. Five members of the Bengal team had four fouls each. "There were way too many soft fouls called. It was baffling to the players and it was baffling to me," stated Coach O'Brien

The second half started out with a three from Akbar Abdul-Ahad. Another spell of missed shots from the Bengals gave the Vikings an 18 point lead within the first five minutes of the half. A time out was called and the Bengals came back to the game with nothing to lose.

Though a streak of points was made near the end of the game, offense struggled throughout most of the game to get into a rhythm. "The aggressiveness on offense was not there. You can't just play 15 hard minutes in any league and expect to win," said O'Brien.

The men's team slowly chipped at the lead starting with a lay up by David Schroeder. A jumper by John Ofoegbu, a pair of threes by Austin Kilpatrick, and foul shots by Matt Stucki cut PSU's lead to only five points. Schroeder, also contributing to the team, made 14 of his 21 points in the second half. Coach O'Brien contributed the come-back to ISU's tough defense and stated "Defense got us back in the game. You have to make stops before you can catch back up."

Within the last few seconds left in play ISU was ahead by one point. A foul was called against Schroeder and PSU's Ryan Sommer made both of his foul shots. PSU led by one point when Stucki was fouled. A pair of missed free throws forced ISU to foul the Vikings. A made foul shot by Juma Kamara finalized the score, PSU 67 and ISU 65.

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