Turnovers hurt Idaho men during road loss to Cal State Bakersfield

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Turnovers were the story on Saturday night, with Idaho falling at Cal State Bakersfield 66-55 in nonconference men’s basketball.

The Vandals (6-3) finished with 27 turnovers, the most by a Don Verlin-coached Idaho squad.

“You can’t win a basketball game on the road against a quality basketball team and turn it over 27 times,” Verlin said. “That was obviously the difference in the game. I thought our guys played extremely hard. … When you turn it over 27 times and they get 13 more shots than you, that’s not going to work.”

Victor Sanders scored a game-high 20 points for the Vandals, connecting on 4 of 8 3-pointers. Idaho lost for the first time in five games this season in which Sanders has scored 20 points.

Idaho led 14-8 midway through the first half, but the Roadrunners (6-6) put together a 15-0 run over the next 9 minutes. Idaho trailed 29-23 at halftime.

The Vandals tied the score at 29 early in the second half and again at 32 on a three-point-play by Arkadiy Mkrtychyan. But Cal State Bakersfield responded with an 11-0 run.

The Vandals cut the gap to 50-47, but the Roadrunners closed the night on a 16-8 run.

Idaho outrebounded the Roadrunners 43-27, topped by Perrion Callandret’s career-best eight.

Jordan Scott finished with nine points, his most against a Division I squad this season.

Damiyne Durham led four Roadrunners in double figures with 19 points, including 5 of 11 on 3-pointers.

Next up for Idaho is the final nonconference home game of the season, with Simon Fraser coming to Moscow on Friday night.