Bengal men fall short of Big Sky tournament

By Dan Angell
dangell@journalnet.com
    After several frustrating finishes and close losses, the final play of Idaho State’s 77-74 loss to Northern Colorado provided the perfect conclusion for the Bengals.
    With 6.7 seconds left, Idaho State drew up a play to free senior guard Broderick Gilchrest, hoping for a similar result to the Feb. 12 win over Northern Arizona in which Gilchrest nailed the 3.
    The problem was that Northern Colorado had the 3-point arc defended almost perfectly, and Gilchrest couldn’t get an open look. By the time the senior found space to get a shot off, Northern Colorado guard Chris Kaba’s right arm was there to swat it away and the Bengals’ last hope of reaching the Big Sky tournament died on Monday night at Holt Arena.
    While the Bears celebrated moving one win away from winning the Big Sky regular season title, the Bengals could only wonder what might have been if they hadn’t come up short so often at the end.
    “That’s the story of the conference season,” Idaho State coach Joe O’Brien said. “That’s probably the fifth game in the conference season that we were that close to going the other way. I hope the experience that the returning players have been through sinks in and next year they utilize it.”
    The Bengals (9-19, 4-11 Big Sky) ended up falling short again because they were unable to build off their momentum in the second half. When Idaho State ripped off an 18-6 run to take a 64-60 lead, it appeared the Bengals might pull off the surprising upset.
    Instead, Idaho State missed five of its next six shots. From that point on, Northern Colorado (18-10, 12-3) took over the game. After using the opportunity to regroup, the Bears ripped off a 13-4 run capped off by a 3-pointer from junior Elliott Lloyd that proved to be the decisive blow.
    “It was just guys executing and stepping up,” Northern Colorado coach B.J. Hill said. “We drew up that play for Elliott Lloyd out of a timeout, and he banged it. For a kid that’s been struggling enough to have enough confidence to shoot that says a lot about him.”
    Lloyd had just five points, but that shot allowed the Bears to win the game from the free throw line. Devon Beitzel led all scorers with 28 points, 16 of which came from the stripe.
    Gilchrest finished with 26 points in his final game at Holt Arena, but his last game in Pocatello was anything but memorable in his eyes. Minutes after the loss, he despondently sat in the stands, trying to come to grips with the fact that his senior season would end on Wednesday at Montana State.
    “I felt for the guys last year who went out to the same way,” Gilchrest said. “We (the seniors) all pleged that we were going to do something different. We were going to make the tournament and not go out with a bitter taste in our mouths, but the season’s ending the same.
    “We stayed together, but we couldn’t pull it off.”