‘Appalling’ Vandals Fall To Nau

You play like you practice. Practice makes perfect.

The Idaho men’s basketball team proved these time-honored theories perfectly inaccurate on Thursday night.

Coming off three of its finest practices of the season, Idaho offered up another sour effort come game time, falling to Northern Arizona 79-69 at Walkup Skydome.

“I don’t see how a team could play so well in practice for three days and then play so poor,” said perplexed Vandals coach Joe Cravens. “I just apologize to anybody that’s ever watched a Vandal team. It’s just absolutely appalling.”

Idaho could have secured a spot in the Big Sky Conference tournament with a win. Instead, the Vandals (10-13 overall, 4-7 Big Sky) remain in good position, needing one win in their three remaining games or an NAU (5-18, 2-10) loss in its final two contests.

The Vandals were crushed 43-23 on the boards. They had been whipping opponents by an average of 3.4 rebounds per game. NAU, meanwhile, usually is outboarded by 0.2 per game.

Most of the damage was at the offensive end, where NAU held a 19-5 lead.

“That pretty much sums it up,” said Cravens, whose club visits Weber State on Saturday. “This sounds like a broken record, but those are effort things.”

In the final 6 minutes of the first half, NAU erased an eight-point deficit to lead 37-35.

Brent Bowden and Michael McNair scorched UI defenders in the second half as Northern Arizona’s lead swelled to 54-46. Idaho twice pulled within two points, but Bowden answered with baskets each time.

Northern Arizona 79, Idaho 69

Idaho (10-13) - Turner 4-8 2-2 10, Harrison 4-7 0-0 8, Gardner 3-7 2-2 8, Rose 7-13 0-0 15, Dirden 3-7 0-0 9, Baumann 0-2 0-0 0, Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Jackman 6-9 7-8 19. Totals 27-55 11-12 69.

Northern Arizona (5-18) - McNair 5-10 3-3 14, Bowden 10-19 6-6 26, Frank 4-7 1-2 9, Thomas 2-6 3-4 7, Riley 3-10 2-2 8, Flores 0-0 0-0 0, Abbott 3-7 0-0 8, Ten Berge 3-6 0-0 7. Totals 30-65 15-17 79.

Halftime-N. Arizona 37, Idaho 35. 3-Point goals-N. Arizona 4-14 (Abbott 2-4, Ten Berge 1-2, McNair 1-4, Thomas 0-1, Riley 0-3), Idaho 4-12 (Dirden 3-5, Rose 1-4, Baumann 0-2, Gardner 0-1). Fouled out-Idaho, Jackman; N. Arizona, Frank. Rebounds- Idaho 23 (Harrison 8), N. Arizona 43 (Bowden 9). Assists-Idaho 11 (Rose 5), N. Arizona 13 (Thomas 4). Total fouls-Idaho 19, N. Arizona 14. A-1,587.