Vandals Rebound For Victory
Senior guard Shawn Dirden had 22 points and senior forward Harry Harrison added 19 points and 19 rebounds as the Idaho Vandals beat the Troy State Trojans 95-86 in the consolation game of the Capital Bank Classic hosted by Southeast Missouri State.
Troy State was led by forward Matt Padgett’s game-high 26 points.
Junior guard Reggie Rose had 15 points and reserve forward Jason Jackman added 17 points as Idaho improved to 2-1. Troy State fell to 1-3.
The Vandals managed to survive the aggressive defense and high-octane offense of the Trojans to pull away in the second half. Idaho led 40-38 at the break, but the Trojans took a 45-42 lead on two baskets by Padgett and Patrick Minifield and a 3-pointer by Derrick Bristol - all in the first 1:30 of the second half.
Forward James Jones hit his first 3-pointer of the year to tie the game and Harrison followed with a free throw to give the Vandals the lead for good.
Idaho never led by more than six points until Reggie Rose hit a layup and Shawn Dirden took a length-of-the-court pass, threw down a reverse dunk while being fouled and hit the ensuing free throw to give Idaho a 80-70 lead with 5:17 left in the game. Troy State would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.
“They really make you play different than what you want to play,” said Vandals coach Joe Cravens. “We’re not a run-and-gun team. We made pretty good decisions. We still don’t have a real high regard for the basketball. We played hard. I’m delighted with the win.”
“Our post players had to step
up and play good defense tonight because they were guarding guys much smaller and quicker than them,” said Idaho point guard Reggie Rose. “The key tonight was not to get into their kind of game. It reminded me of games on the playgrounds of Chicago.”
Troy State attempted 86 shots, 16 more than Idaho, and made 11 of 39 3-pointers. But the Vandals won the game with superior size.
Idaho’s front-line combination of Harrison, Nate Gardner and reserve forward Jackman had 33 rebounds. Gardner had his boards despite fouling out and playing just 16 minutes. Idaho’s guards also did their part as Rose had a career-high nine rebounds and Dirden added six. Idaho enjoyed a 59-45 rebounding advantage.
Jackman also led a solid effort from the Idaho bench, scoring 17 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
“I was down in the dumps all day after last night,” said Cravens of Friday’s 63-61 loss to Mississippi Valley State. “We held two opponents that had been scoring a lot of points to 34 and 33 percent shooting. Our defense is a little bit ahead of our offense. We have a chance to be very good if we do all the little things.”
Idaho outrebounded the Tro jans 34-23 in the first half, but had 13 first-half turnovers.
Harrison’s 19 rebounds was a tournament record. Idaho 95, Troy State 86
IDAHO (95) James Jones 2-3 2-2 7, Harry Harrison 5-11 9-15 19, Nate Gardner 3-5 1-1 7, Reggie Rose 7-19 1-3 15, Shawn Dirden 8-13 4-6 22, Kris Baumann 0-0 0-0 0, Eddie Turner 2-6 1-2 6, Jason Jackman 7- 11 3-6 17, Marvin Thomas 1-2 0-2 2 Totals — 35-70 21-37 95
TROY STATE (86) Derrick Bristol 4-11 2-2 13, Matt Padgett 10-19 2-2 26, Jeff Black 3-8 1-3 7, Rhodney Donaldson 6-16 3-4 17, Chris Googe 0-2 0-0 0, Geoff Spann 0-4 0-0 0, Fred Bryant 1-3 3-3 5, Jermaine Ball 2-8 3-5 8, Patrick Minifield 4-15 1-2 10 Totals — 30-86 11-39 86
3-point goals — Idaho 4-11 (Jones 1-1, Rose 0-2, Dirden 2-6, Turner 1-2), Troy State 11-39 (Bristol 3-7, Padgett 4-7, Donaldson 2-9, Googe 0-2, Spann 0-1, Ball 1-7, Minifield 1-6). Fouled out — Harrison, Idaho. Bryant, Minifield, Troy State Rebounds — Idaho 59 (Harrison 19), Troy State 45 (Bristol 9). Assists — Idaho 12 (Rose, Turner 4), Troy State 17 (Ball 9). Total fouls — Idaho 20, Troy State 28. Technicals — none. A— 2,895
, DataTimes