Montana St. Ends Season For Vandals

Idaho’s enemies didn’t look all that menacing.

They were the bodies sitting on folding chairs on Montana State’s bench and the game clocks perched above the backboards at each end of the court.

Time seemed to stand still in the second half. MSU ran, UI watched. When the Bobcats tired, fresh legs were summoned. When the Vandals tired, they got sloppy.

Almost graciously, the clock finally expired on Idaho’s basketball season after a 77-66 loss in the opening round of the men’s Big Sky Tournament on Thursday at Weber State’s Dee Events Center.

“The tempo they play at just caught up with us,” said UI senior Mark Leslie, who had 18 points but seven turnovers. “We wanted to slow it down and run the shot clock down and get a break. The first half was all right. The second half was at their tempo the whole way.”

Sixth-seeded Idaho finished 12-15 and lost in the tourney’s first round for the first time since 1987-88. UI’s losing record snapped a string of eight straight winning seasons, dating back to Bill Trumbo’s 11-18 mark in 1985-86.

Third-seeded MSU (21-7) plays No. 2 Montana (20-7) tonight at 5 PST in the semifinals. At 8 p.m, No. 1 Weber State (18-8) tackles No. 5 Idaho State ( 18-9), which toppled No. 4 Boise State 65-63.

“I thought we played extremely hard,” UI coach Joe Cravens said. “I knew fatigue would be a factor, simply because it’s been a factor all season.”

Cravens used his bench basically to give starters mini breaks or avoid further foul trouble - three Vandals eventually fouled out.

The starters’ minutes stacked up and so did the mistakes.

Tied at 51 with 9 minutes to go, Idaho began passing carelessly, missing fouls shots and trotting a step behind MSU cutters.

“Our margin of error is so small,” Cravens said. “Fatigue was probably a factor there.”

The Bobcats went in front on backup wing Kwesi Coleman’s 3-pointer. From there, reserve guard Mike Elliott made three buckets and fed Quadre Lollis for a layup. That surge gave MSU a 69-58 advantage with 2:40 remaining.

“As you saw, we did everything we could to shorten the game and give our guys a break,” Cravens said. “I called every time out. We did everything we could short of having one of our guys fake a fit or something. Their depth killed us.”

“It was really frustrating for me on defense,” Leslie admitted. Starting point guard Scott (Hatler) “gave me all he had, then Elliot came in and he’s quicker than Hatler.”

Non-starters Coleman (15 points) , Elliott (11 points, 4 assists) and Lollis (20 points) were too much for UI.

“My bench guys,” marvelled MSU coach Mick Durham in the interview room, draping his arms around Coleman and Elliott. Lollis was seated further down.

“Toward the second half, they wore down,” said Lollis, who made 7 of 7 from the field and had 15 of his 20 points in the second half. “In the beginning, they hit everything.”

Idaho scored in triplicate to take a 36-32 lead at half. Leslie (3 of 4 on 3-pointers) and Shawn Dirden (3 of 5 on 3s) staked UI to leads as large as nine.

UI led 23-16 with 10:40 left, but managed only a Dirden 3-pointer in the next 6 minutes as the Vandals’ energy was being sapped by MSU’s half-court trap.

MSU poked in front 28-27, but UI regained the lead on Ben Johnson’s driving layup and Harry Harrison’ short jumper provided the four-point halftime cushion.

The Bobcats’ shot 50 percent in each half, actually a shade below their season average of 51.

Dirden had 17 points for the Vandals, whose shooting percentage trailed off from 50 percent in the opening half to 43.

Montana State 77, Idaho 66

IDAHO (12-15)

Baumann 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 2-5 1-2 5, Dirden 6-16 0-1 17, Spike 1-3 1-2 3, Leslie 7-13 0-2 18, Gardner 3-4 1-2 7, Coates 3-4 1-2 7, Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Harrison 4-9 1-2 9, Hay 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 5-13 66.

MONTANA STATE (21-7)

Lollis 7-7 6-9 20, Elliott 4-8 3-4 11, Coleman 4-8 6-6 15, Hatler 0-1 2-2 2, Harrison 4-7 1-2 10, Talley 5-9 2-2 12, Garrison 0-0 0-0 0, Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0, Leachman 2-7 0-0 5, Michaels 1-7 0-0 2. Totals 27-54 20-25 77.

Halftime-Idaho 36, MSU 32. 3-Point goals-Idaho 9-16 (Dirden 5-9, Leslie 4-7), MSU 3-12 (Harrison 1-2, Coleman 1-4, Leachman 1-4, Talley 0-1, Elliott 0-1). Fouled out-Idaho, Gardner, Leslie, Harrison. Rebounds-Idaho 30 (Harrison 11), MSU 34 (Lollis, Michaels 9). Assists-Idaho 16 (Johnson 5), MSU 11 (Elliott 4). Total fouls-Idaho 22, MSU 14. A-na.

ISU 65, BSU 63

The Bengals won it on Nathan Green’s putback with 31 seconds remaining.

BSU wing Sherman Morris missed a 17-footer and Darnell Woods’ desperation 40-footer was errant in the closing seconds.

ISU forward Donell Morgan scored 24 points and all-conference forward Jim Potter had an off night with nine points.

“We set out to prove tonight that we could play and that we’re not chumps,” said ISU coach Herb Williams, whose club had lost five straight conference games to close the regular season.

BSU’s J.D. Huleen hit four treys early, but cooled off in the second half. He finished with 23 points.

BSU ended with a 17-10 mark.

IDAHO STATE (18-9)

Lands 1-2 0-0 3, Watkins 4-13 0-0 10, Morgan 8-12 8-10 24, Potter 4-12 1-3 9, Green 3-8 1-2 7, Cotton 0-0 0-0 0, Lee 4-7 0-0 10, Harwell 0-0 2-2 2, Preston 0-0 0-0 0, Maxwell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-55 12-17 65.

BOISE STATE (17-10)

Archibald 1-5 2-2 4, Woods 3-7 0-0 6, Morris 5-11 0-1 10, Huleen 8-15 3-3 23, Coker 6-16 6-8 18, Folsom 0-1 2-2 2, Sherrill 0-1 0-0 0, Rodman 0-0 0-0 0, Tharp 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 13-16 63.

Halftime-Idaho St. 35, Boise St. 31. 3-Point goals-Idaho St. 5-16 (Lee 2-5, Watkins 2-6, Lands 1-1, Morgan 0-1, Potter 0-3), Boise St. 4-15 (Huleen 4-9, Tharp 0-1, Morris 0-1, Woods 0-2, Archibald 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Idaho St. 40 (Green 11), Boise St. 31 (Coker 9). Assists-Idaho St. 7 (Watkins 3), Boise St. 16 (Archibald 6). Total fouls-Idaho St. 15, Boise St. 14. A-4,395.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with story: Big Sky Tournament Thursday’s games Montana State 77, Idaho 66 Boise State vs. Idaho State Today’s games Montana State vs. Montana Weber State vs. BSU-ISU winner