Vandals Get Job Done Against Montana St.

The Idaho men’s basketball team was expected to struggle this season. It is now 4-3.

The Vandals were supposed to have trouble scoring in pregame layup drills, let alone games. They put up 46 second-half points on Montana State and scored on 19 of their last 25 possessions on Saturday night.

Saturday was mainly a function of effort, sweat and determination. It’s yet to be determined how far those intangibles can carry this modestly talented team, but they did the trick in UI’s 74-68 non-conference win over the Bobcats before 1,445 at the Kibbie Dome.

Idaho won its fourth straight at home, the last two in comeback fashion against a quality opponent. UI downed Southwest Missouri State in overtime eight days ago.

“If you can only play one half well, it’s probably better to play the second one,” reasoned UI coach Dave Farrar, whose club faces Idaho State Tuesday at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

Ah, the second half. Farrar juggled his lineup after a sleepy first half in which Idaho trailed by as many as 12. He inserted Moscow High grad Adam Miller, a hard-working walk-on guard, and benched Kris Baumann. Sure enough Miller picked up a floor burn diving for a loose ball within seconds.

However, MSU’s Dan Sullivan made three 3-pointers in the first 2:20 to boost the Bobcats on top 46-31. Danny Sprinkle’s 3, the last of MSU’s 10, left the lead at 53-40.

From there, MSU (6-2) went into early retirement and Idaho uncovered a starting five that meshed. It included Mao Tosi, who finished with 10 points, six boards and strong defense on talented Bobcats center Nate Holmstadt; Josh Toal, who contributed defensively and with six rebounds; and Clifford Gray, who connected on mid-range jumpers.

Meanwhile, Baumann returned to make two critical 3s, one giving Idaho the lead at 59-58 and the other extending the margin to 70-66 with 1:40 left. Avery Curry, who fought through an off-shooting night to score 18 points, hit two clinching free throws with 20 seconds remaining.

“They hit some big shots down the stretch,” said MSU coach Mick Durham, whose Bobcats defeated UI 65-54 in Bozeman in late November. “That’s what we did in Bozeman.”

Holmstadt, who is averaging 17.9 points and had 21 against UI in the previous meeting, took only seven shots. He scored 14 points, but was barely a factor. After Sullivan’s early second-half flurry, no Bobcats picked up the scoring slack.

Idaho cashed in with Tosi, Baumann, Curry and particularly Gray, who made 10 of 15 shots.

“Coach told me earlier if my man was laying off me, take a few steps in and shoot it,” Gray said. Interjected Farrar: “You’ll notice I didn’t have to tell him twice.”

Gray also received some good news from a visit to the doctor’s office Saturday. It was originally feared that the junior forward had the makings of a stress fracture in his shin. “It’s not a stress fracture,” he said. “They told me it was something, but it’s not a stress fracture.”

Gray’s scoring was doubly important, Farrar said. “We’ve all noticed our team is pretty defensive-minded, but it gets hard to be defensive-minded if we’re not able to score. So the ability to do that was very important at critical times.”

Almost as important as simply outworking their opponent.

Idaho 74, Montana St. 68

Montana State (6-2) - Sullivan 6-9 0-0 16, Ollie 6-15 2-6 14, Holmstadt 5-7 3-4 14, Williams 0-6 3-4 3, Sprinkle 5-10 0-0 14, Hooper 0-2 0-0 0, Henry 1-1 0-0 2, Rabb 0-3 0-0 0, Harry 1-2 2-2 5, Badding 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 10-16 68.

Idaho (4-3) - Gray 10-15 2-4 22, Thompson 2-3 0-0 4, Tosi 3-4 4-4 10, Baumann 4-8 3-4 14, Curry 6-15 6-7 18, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Toal 1-4 0-0 2, Banks 2-3 0-0 4, Byrne 0-1 0-0 0, Hampton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-55 15-19 74.

Halftime - Montana State 36, Idaho 28. 3-point goals - Montana State 10-25 (Sullivan 4-7, Sprinkle 4-7, Holmstadt 1-1, Harry 1-1, Rabb 0-1, Badding 0-1, Ollie 0-2, Hooper 0-2, Williams 0-3), Idaho 3-11 (Baumann 3-5, Curry 0-1, Miller 0-1, Banks 0-1, Toal 0-3). Fouled out - Hampton. Rebounds - Montana State 32 (Ollie 6), Idaho 36 (Gray, Tosi, Toal 6). Assists - Montana State 8 (Williams 4), Idaho 8 (Toal 3). Total fouls - Montana State 18, Idaho 16. A-NA.

, DataTimes