BOISE — The Big Sky Tournament has changed.
Instead of multicolored blocks of fans from all around the conference, there are just a few who scatter behind their team’s bench.
Instead of the hustle and bright lights of post-game press conferences, there are sterile Zoom meetings.
And instead of sitting courtside, media members are sent up to the third floor of the Idaho Central Arena.
But, as it turned out, the birds-eye view from a conference-mandated chair in the rafters was the perfect place to observe Idaho State’s defensive dominance in a first-round 66-50 win over Portland State on Tuesday.
The Bengals have great individual defenders, sure. Diaba Konate finished third in the conference in steals. Ellie Smith was fourth in blocks. But ISU’s Big-Sky-best defense this year was a complete team effort, and with a top-down view, that was more apparent than ever on Tuesday.
Watching from up top, the speed and power of the players and the frantic sense of the game, obvious at courtside, fade out. They look more like pieces on a chess board, and the shape of the game, the space that opens and closes, becomes clearer.
The Bengals switched, helped, doubled, recovered without missing a beat, handing off players in an intricate dance. It’s mesmerizing to watch when you can see every player on the court, moving in unison — and, with a nearly empty gym, when you can hear head coach Seton Sobolewski on the sideline, yelling instructions and calling out the other team’s plays.
Watch the backscreen!
Help, help, help!
Elbow iso!
Come on Estefi, work harder!
That communication is crucial to ISU’s defense, and against Portland State, that defense was nearly perfect.
“We played great defense, especially in that first half,” Sobolewski said. “We played some exceptional defense, and I thought that really set the tone for the game.”
Idaho State held the Vikings to 15 points in the first half and 50 for the game on 29.3% shooting. The Bengals had nine steals — four by Konate — and six blocks, and surgically removed any suspense from the game by shutting down the Vikings both times they got close.
The first came in the first half, when Tatiana Streun, who scored PSU’s first 12 points of the game, bulled inside for a 3-point play and a layup to cut ISU’s lead to 10-9 with two minutes, 50 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Vikings didn’t score again for exactly eight minutes, until Streun made one of two free throws with 4:50 left in the second quarter. Idaho State led 22-10 at that point and 30-15 at halftime.
Portland State made one more run in the third quarter, with Desirae Hansen hitting three straight 3s — and converting a free throw after the last for a 4-point play to cut ISU’s lead to 34-29 — but the Vikings scored just once more in the final 5:50 of the quarter and Idaho State went to the fourth with a 50-32 lead.
“We’ve been in that situation before,” Sobolewski said. “We even talked about it at halftime. We said they’ve got a run in them, and it’s going to come. How we handle it is going to be important. Do we get our stops and do we respond on the offensive end?”
The beauty of Idaho State’s defense was nearly matched by the Bengals’ work on offense, where they had 20 assists on 28 made field goals. After playing against Portland State’s 2-3 zone twice already this season, Idaho State’s players had the steps of the dance down pat, zipping passes from the wing to the opposite low block and tic-tac-toing touch passes down low when they caught the ball in the high post.
Delaney Moore led the Bengals with 18 points, mostly by being the beneficiary of those passes under the hoop.
“I think it was just finding the right positions to be in,” Moore said. “My teammates finding me with the ball ultimately led to those shots.”
Montana Oltrogge added 12 points on 5 of 5 shooting and Dora Goles had 10 for ISU. Callie Bourne had seven points but led the Bengals with eight rebounds and seven assists.
The win gave Idaho State its third 20-win season in the previous four.
Idaho State will play No. 4 Northern Colorado in the semifinals Wednesday at 6 p.m.
IDAHO STATE 66, PORTLAND STATE 50
Portland State 9 6 17 18 — 50
Idaho State 13 17 20 16 — 66
Portland State — Streun 19, Hansen 12, Jimenez 5, Baird 5, Boston 5, Lewis 2, Walton 2.
Idaho State — Moore 18, Oltrogge 12, Goles 10, Ors 8, Bourne 7, Smith 6, Konate 3, Whitman 2.