No. 11 Seed Idaho State Stuns Northern Arizona For First Tourney Win in 11 Years
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BOISE, Idaho (March 11, 2020) – Behind a team-high 16 points from Austin Smellie and Chier Maker’s double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds, No. 11 seed Idaho State collected its first Big Sky Championship victory in 11 years following a 64-62 win over sixth-seeded Northern Arizona at CenturyLink Arena.
Idaho State (8-22) used a 13-0 run to close out the first half and carry the momentum into halftime with a 44-29 lead.
In the first half, Northern Arizona (16-14) jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes to force an Idaho State timeout. The Bengals responded well, putting together a 15-4 run to move in front of the Lumberjacks.
A three-pointer from Bernie Andre capped a 13-0 Northern Arizona spurt that began the second half to pull the Lumberjacks back within two. NAU tied the game at 50 with just over 11 minutes to play before the Bengals grabbed a lead they would not relinquish.
“As time has gone on, we’ve played more and more unselfishly on offense,” said head coach Ryan Looney. “Because of our ball movement we were getting much more open shots than what we were getting earlier in the season.”
Idaho State becomes the first 11 seed since Southern Utah in 2017 to advance to the quarterfinals. The Bengals collected their first Big Sky Championship win since defeating Northern Colorado 67-60 in the 2009 tournament.
Northern Arizona’s Brooks DeBisschop led all players with 17 points while adding 11 rebounds.
Idaho State will face two-time defending champion and third-seeded Montana in Thursday’s quarterfinal round at 8 p.m. MT. The game can be seen on Eleven Sports, Pluto TV channel 531 and WatchBigSky.com.