Bengals jump Oral Roberts with dominant rebounding performance

POCATELLO — The Idaho State University men’s basketball teams improved to 3-0 at home with a 71-55 win over Oral Roberts University — a Division-1 program that played in the NCAA Sweet 16 just three seasons ago.

The Bengals (4-5) dominated the glass Saturday, out-rebounding Oral Roberts 54-19.

“I’m really proud of our guys and our effort, especially after the disappointment in South Dakota,” head coach Ryan Looney said after the game. … “We’ve taken a lot of pride in, with a brand new team, trying to establish an identity of defense and rebounding, and I think for our home fans, that was definitely on display tonight.”

ISU entered the game against the Golden Eagles having suffered a 94-80 loss at South Dakota three days prior. The Bengals won the rebounding battle in that game as well, albeit by a much slimmer margin — 37-35.

The Bengals controlled the boards on both ends of the court Saturday. In fact, they finished the game with more offensive rebounds (17) than defensive rebounds recorded by Oral Roberts (16).

“We turned everything into a 50/50 ball coming off the rim on that on the floor,” Looney said.

With the advantage on the offense glass came a 14-0 edge in second-chance points for the Bengals — accounting for nearly the entire margin of victory.

The coach called his team’s rebounding performance the best in his five years as head of the program.

ISU’s victory came despite an ice-cold shooting performance from deep, where the Bengals finished 2-of-18 (11%), due in large part to the rebounding advantage. They also relied heavily on defensive effort, holding Oral Roberts to 31% shooting from the field (17-of-55)

“I’ve been striving to get our team there the whole time I’ve been here, and I think we’re definitely headed in the right direction,” Looney said.

Sophomore Evan Otten was a huge part of the team defense, blocking five shots.

Offensively, the Bengals were led by Jake O’Neil and Isaiah Griffin, who matched each other with a team-high 14 points. O’Neil added a game-high 19 rebounds while ISU leading scorer Dylan Darling contributed a game-high nine assists to go with 12 points and six rebounds.

Reed Gym will remain active in the coming week as the Bengals will play host to Walla Walla University Saturday, then Utah Valley University next Wednesday.

They will kick off conference play on Jan. 2 at Northern Arizona University.