The Idaho State men’s basketball team came close to finishing out its roster for next season, while the Bengal women announced their first recruit of the spring signing period.
Lachlan Brewer, a 6-foot-6-inch wing player, is transferring to Idaho State from Sacramento State, where he started 28 of the Hornets’ 31 games this past season as a true freshman.
Brewer led the Hornets in 3-point shooting, hitting 45% from beyond-the-arc (37-of-83), while averaging 6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.9 steals a game. In two contests against Idaho State, the Aussie native hit 4-of-10 shots from the field, including 3-of-4 from the 3-point line, scored 11 points, had nine rebounds and only one turnover in 54 minutes of play.
“We are excited about the addition of Lachlan Brewer,” said ISU men’s basketball head coach Ryan Looney. “He has great size and can really stretch the floor. He will be a great Bengal. We feel blessed that he is now competing with us.”
Brewer played his high school ball at Riverside High School in Tasmania, Australia. He was a member of the gold-medal winning Australian U16 team in the 2022 Asian championships and also played for the Australian national team in the U17 World Cup in Spain in 2022. While playing for the Tasmanian team in the U20 Australian National Championships, he averaged 20.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game
Unofficially, Brewer becomes the 12th Bengal on scholarship for next season. He joins transfer portal additions Quin Patterson, a 6-7 wing player from UC-San Diego, Jamison Guerra, a 6-0 point guard from Oregon Tech, and Caleb Van De Griend, a 6-8 post player from Minot State.
Also joining the Bengals next season are two incoming freshmen, Landon Birley, a 6-4 shooting guard from Yakima, Wash., and Louis Bond, a 6-5 wing player from Los Angeles.
Expected to return from last season are Evan Otten, 6-11 post player, Connor Hollenbeck, 6-8 post player, Jaedyn Brown, 6-4 shooting guard, Cheikh Sow, 6-7 wing player who redshirted with an injury last year, Martin Kheil, a 6-4 guard who signed in January and redshirted last season, and Blake Daberkow, a 6-10 post player.
Point guard Dylan Darling, the Big Sky Most Valuable Player, has entered the transfer portal, but has not announced a decision on if he’s going to transfer, and if so, where. Looney was asked if ISU was pausing recruiting while Darling makes his decision, given ISU has now apparently filled 12 of its available 13 scholarships for next season.
“I feel like we always have to be recruiting,” Looney responded. “Things are always pretty fluid.”
On the women’s side, the Bengals announced the addition of Rigby native Tylie Jones, a 6-0 guard, who is transferring from New Mexico State. Jones played in 13 games, starting three, last season with the Aggies, averaging 3.9 points a game, while shooting 40% from the field and 29% from 3. She missed 13 games with a shin injury.
In the previous season, Jones played 18 games, starting five, and averaged 7.3 points a game, while shooting 40% from the field and 34% from 3-point range.
Jones played two seasons of junior college basketball before joining the Aggies, averaging 8 points a game at the College of Southern Idaho in the 2022-2023 season and 5.3 points per game for Snow College in the 2021-2022 season.
She is apparently taking advantage of the recent NCAA ruling granting an extra year of eligibility for athletes who played at non-NCAA institutions and who were in their final year of eligibility this past season.
The Bengal women expect the return of 11 players from last year’s roster, including freshman Molly Hays, who redshirted with an injury. In addition they signed French guard Maeva Gauffrenet last fall.
High school player Tariah Carter, the Idaho 3A Player of the Year from Melba, has announced her intention to walk on at ISU next fall.
ISU still has three scholarships to fill this spring.