Idaho
‘We didn’t expect to lose this game’: Eighth-seeded Idaho State upsets No. 2 Northern Colorado in Big Sky Conference quarterfinal
The Northern Colorado men’s basketball team never imagined going home with a season-ending 83-76 loss to Idaho State in its first game in the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
The second-seeded Bears beat the No. 8 Bengals twice during the regular season, though by a total of just seven points including a double overtime win early last month in Greeley.
A loss to the Bengals in the teams’ third game of the season was not a reality the Bears saw coming at Idaho Central Arena in Boise.
Idaho State (7-11 in Big Sky this season, 14-19 overall) held UNC leading scorer Saint Thomas to 12 points and without a point in the first half. The Bengals took charge after spotting UNC a 7-0 lead 3-minutes, 21 seconds into the game to end the Bears’ bid for a second semifinal appearance in three years.
UNC (12-6 Big Sky, 19-13 overall) played in the Big Sky championship two years ago, losing to Montana Stat 87-66 in Boise. That year, UNC received a bid to the College Basketball Invitational Tournament and advanced to the semifinals before losing to the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Daytona Beach, Florida.
“We didn’t expect to lose this game,” sophomore guard Langston Reynolds said in a post-game media session, describing the atmosphere in the Bears locker room as low. “We all know we could’ve played better. Every single guy that stepped on the floor, we all know we could’ve played better. We just didn’t do it.”
Guard Dejour Reaves led UNC (12-6 Big Sky, 19-13 overall) with 19 points, Reynolds added 16 and Thomas was held eight below his season average on 4 of 11 shooting from the floor.
Idaho State coach Ryan Looney said Bengals’ team defense was behind Thomas’ off night from the floor.
Thomas scored in double figures in 28 of 31 games going into Sunday night’s quarterfinal. A 6-foot-7 junior, Thomas was one of the most dominating players in the conference during the regular season. He averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds in his first season in Greeley after transferring from Loyola Chicago.
His averages in points and rebounds were second to Weber State’s Dillon Jones, who was the conference player of the year. Jones averaged 20.8 points and 10.1 rebounds. Thomas was named newcomer of the year when conference awards were announced last week.
Thomas scored his first basket 74 seconds into the second half, and he made his first and only 3-pointer with 2:27 left to make it a nine-point game at 69-60. Thomas recorded a season-high nine assists, six rebounds, six turnovers and two steals.
“We had a very specific plan on what we wanted to do with ball screens and hand offs that he was in,” Looney said of Thomas. “Early in the game, we also had a very distinct coverage we wanted to execute when he took the ball into the post.”
Looney said Idaho State through the game changed how they defended Thomas on ball-screen coverage, which the coach said he thought was disrupting for Thomas. Looney also credited forward Isaiah Griffin for how he defended Thomas.
“I think he took some pride in that match-up tonight,” Looney said, noting guard Maleek Arington was in on the screen-defense coverage involving Thomas and other Bears players.
Idaho State guard Miguel Tomley scored 28 points including 18 in the second half and four other Bengals’ players scored in double figures. Griffin added 14, forward Kiree Huie had 13, Arington scored 11 and center Brayden Parker had 10 points.
UNC coach Steve Smiley said the Bears’ hurt themselves with the turnovers. Idaho State then slowed the tempo of the game, which was good for the Bengals and not good for the fast-pace and high-scoring Bears.
The Bengals scored 16 points off eight UNC turnovers in the first half and had 23 points on 12 Bears’ turnovers for the game.
“The turnovers just killed us,” Smiley. “Second half, they got a couple of early shots and scored on us. We just struggled to score. Couldn’t keep pace. They are an extremely dangerous eight seed and everyone knew it.”

About 35 minutes before UNC stepped on the court, tournament top seed Eastern Washington was upset by No. 10 Sacramento State. The Hornets’ 74-69 victory eliminated one of two teams in the tournament to sweep UNC during the regular season. The other team to beat UNC twice this year is No. 4 Weber State, which meets No. 5 Montana State in the third round at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
UNC, then, started its game Sunday night in a seemingly good position. The Bears wouldn’t see either Eastern Washington or Weber State until the finals based on the seeding.
Idaho State will play either No. 3 Montana or No. 6 Portland State in the semifinals at 9 p.m. Tuesday. The semifinal is scheduled to be telecast on ESPN2. Montana and Portland State play a third-round game at 8 p.m. Monday, following the Weber State-Montana State game.
UNC’s loss came a day after the Windsor High School boys team lost to Mesa Ridge 57-53 in the Class 5A state title game in Denver. Madden Smiley, Smiley’s son, Johnathan Reed, the son of Bears’ assistant coach Houston Reed were the Wizards’ best players through the season.
“The highs are high and the lows are low when you’re chasing championships,” Smiley said of the losses. “That was gut wrenching and this is gut wrenching because you never anticipate losing. You never do. No coach here does. Everyone thinks they’re going to win. We sure thought we were going to win.”
Idaho
Gov. Little signs bill ending license plate registration stickers in Idaho
Gov. Brad Little has signed House Bill 533, which would remove the need for license plate stickers on Idaho vehicles.
The legislation, introduced earlier this session by Rep. Jon Weber (R) of Boise, eliminates the requirement for registration stickers on Idaho license plates. Weber stated during the bills intorduction that officers can verify the status of license plates without the stickers, potentially saving the state around $300,000.
During the bill’s introduction, some lawmakers argued that it could increase the workload for law enforcement.
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The new law is set to take effect in July.
Idaho
Idaho resolution opposing same-sex marriage advances
For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.
The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.
Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.
Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.
Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.
“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.
Doing so is a risk, he said.
“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.
Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.
But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.
Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.
Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.
“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.
The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.
House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”
“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.
The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.
During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.
It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Post wires
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