Denver (10-6, 1-1) faced the Idaho State Bengals at Hamilton Gym in the Summit League-Big Sky Challenge. After a horrible first half giving up 46 points, 22 in the paint, it looked like Denver was headed to a startling loss to Idaho State (4-9). However, the nation’s leading scorer, Tommy Bruner, willed Denver back into the game in the second half and the Pioneers went a sizzling six for six from the field in extra time, two three-pointers from Bruner, to swamp the visiting Bengals.
The first half was a nightmare as the Bengals finished with a six-point lead, 46-40, while shooting 52% from the floor. The visitors scored 18 points off Pioneer turnovers and 14 second-chance points as a dazed DU team looked on. Denver looked lifeless for the entire 20 minutes of the first half.
The Pioneer malaise extended into the second half. The outlook was outright grim after the first five minutes following a 3-point make by Idaho State’s Trent Johnson which put the Bengals up by ten, 55-45. However, Denver began to slowly whittle away at the Bengal lead until a DeAndre Craig three-point make with 10 minutes to go pulled Denver within a field goal, 59-57. Bruner put Denver on his back the final ten minutes at the line and from the field. Still, Idaho State held Denver at bay until 12 seconds remained in the half when Bruner finally knotted the score on a free throw 75-75 and then, put DU up by a point. Each team scored in the waning moments to force the game to overtime.
Denver got the tip in overtime and Isaiah Addo-Ankrah drilled a three-point shot to begin DU’s 18-point overtime blitz. A Touko Tainamo bucket in the paint was followed by two three-point bombs from Tommy Bruner before Idaho State could find the scoreboard. A three-point play by Pedro Lopez Sanvicente and a bucket in the paint by Sanvicente extinguished any hope the Bengals had in the five-minute extra period. Jaxson Brenchley capped the Denver scoring spree with a pair of free throws. Final score 95-82.
Ultimately, it was Tommy Bruner who stole the show and the win for Denver with an amazing stat line – 33 points (10/16 Field, 3/4 three-3-pt.), 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block. Touko Tainamo had 18 points and 8 rebounds. Isaiah Carr scored 12 points and pulled down 6 rebounds.
Next up is a trip to Greeley to play Northern Colorado at 6:00 pm MT in the second game of the Summit League-Big Sky Challenge.
Idaho State is hardly a world-beater basketball team, so can’t get too excited over this.But I liked the way Denver responded in the second half, and then blew the Benga’s out of the water in the overtime. That was home-court pride, and seeing Bruner, Tanaimo and Carr all have great games at the same time was fun to watch. However, I am sure Coach Wulbrun won’t be happy with ISU’s points off DU turnovers (18-7) and second chance points for ISU (14-6), which were both vastly higher then they should have been
Individually, Tommy Bruner is the nation’s leading scorer right now, and I don’t think DU has had this kind of D-I scoring since the late 1960s days of Harry Hollines, who averaged 25 PPG for DU three years in a row from 1966-1968, back during the Lyndon Johnson Administration. Hollines didn’t have three-point shots to pump up his totals like today and never finished higher than 5th nationally. But what Bruner is doing is special and is worth the price of admission.
Swami-What about Alonzo Weatherly or Matt Teahan?
Good points, Pio fan!
Teahan had 25.3 ppg for the 78-79 season, and Big Al Weatherly had 23 PPG in 79-80, but that may have been in NAIA play – I will have to check the record books!