Idaho falls to North Dakota at home

Minutes after the Cowan Spectrum had emptied, Idaho sophomore guard Sekou Wiggs was back on the court repeatedly taking free-throw shot after free-throw shot.

He didn’t want to waste any precious seconds wondering how Idaho’s latest Big Sky Conference game got away from them, this time a 71-63 stumble against visiting North Dakota.

Free throws might be a reason.

Idaho shot 15 of 28 from the line, which includes two missed free throws by Wiggs which could have cut North Dakota’s lead to two with 35 seconds remaining in the game.

“That killed us tonight,” Wiggs said. “Which is a shock, because we shoot free throws every day. We just couldn’t finish them tonight.”

A concise postgame speech from Idaho coach Don Verlin allowed Wiggs to venture back out to the court quickly.

“There wasn’t much to be said other than we have practice tomorrow and we have to let this one go,” Wiggs said of the postgame speech.

Idaho lost control of the game quickly. The Vandals led by as many as 15 in the first half, taking a 32-25 lead into the halftime locker room.

North Dakota put Idaho on its heels with a 15-3 run out of the half, driving the ball into the lane at will and making six of their first seven shot attempts.

North Dakota made 13 of its first 16 attempts in the half, finishing the half at 14 of 22.

“We just didn’t play good at all in the second half. Didn’t defend it, didn’t rebound, didn’t make our free throws,” Verlin said. “ … It was anybody’s game. I thought they dominated us in the second half.”

On the flip side, Idaho shot 35 percent in the second half. Foul trouble to forwards Bira Seck and Arkadiy Mkrtychyan curbed Idaho’s ability to set up offense in the post. The offense ran around the perimeter, where Vandals guards turned it over six times in the half.

The postgame mentality for Verlin was turned to Saturday’s home meeting against Northern Colorado, where Idaho will likely need a win to stay above the eighth-place threshold of qualifying for the Big Sky tournament.

“They’re all important right now – this was a big one tonight,” Verlin said. “What we have to do is worry about ourselves, have to worry about the process that goes through to get these (games) like (the one) tonight.”

Wiggs thinks the precedent of Idaho’s late-season rally in the WAC a year ago could happen again in the Big Sky.

“We got to somehow – some way – let this one go,” Wiggs said.

“We have to get together as a team, talk, and let each other know that this one is not over.”