Idaho Punts And Passes; Ewu Bricks Vandals Outlast Eastern Washington To Keep Hopes Alive

Idaho and Eastern Washington conducted basketball clinics on Friday night at Reese Court.

Idaho’s theme was, `How not to protect a lead.’ The Vandals turned the ball over 14 times in the second half and wheezed to the finish line of an unspectacular, but important 61-54 Big Sky Conference men’s victory in front of 1,952.

EWU’s theme was, `How not to shoot the basketball.’ Center Melvin Lewis was excused as a clinician due to his 10-of-15 shooting, but his teammates collaborated to make 11 of 46.

“Holy cow,” EWU coach John Wade said, perusing the statistics. “We shot 34 percent. I don’t know how it was that high.”

Though Idaho seemed to make mistake after mistake, including a pair of late possessions when the Vandals punted the ball out of bounds, make no mistake about this: UI needed this win badly. Idaho moved to 4-6 in the Big Sky, a game ahead of Northern Arizona in the race for the sixth and final slot in the conference tournament. UI (10-12 overall) entertains NAU on Thursday and Weber State on Saturday.

“I thought we were in a punt, pass and kick contest,” said UI coach Joe Cravens, whose club has had difficulties in the latter minutes of close games. “We don’t seem to know how to settle in and take control of a game.”

EWU, coming off an upset win over Boise State last Saturday, probably had its faint tournament hopes eclipsed after dropping to 1-9 and 4-17.

“I mean this was it, really,” Wade said. “We have enough games left, but this was a huge game to get into the tournament.”

Lewis, a 6-foot-8, 270-pound junior who played all 40 minutes, scored EWU’s first nine points. Then the Vandals switched to a 1-2-2 zone, sagging inside on Lewis.

UI dared EWU’s perimeter players to shoot. The Eagles did, but rarely connected. Other than Lewis, only Brett Thompson (2 of 3) shot better than 50 percent.

“I was triple-teamed at times,” said Lewis, who nimbly pivoted away from a double-team late for a layup to pull the Eagles within 57-52 with 1:15 remaining. “We had some shots we should have made.”

Idaho was cruising at 54-40 with 6:15 to go when its turnover parade began. Dribbling casually, passing errantly and occasionally punting, UI was gasping before junior guard Shawn Dirden buried two foul shots with 20 seconds left for a 59-54 advantage.

Josh Lewis, basically the only Eagle with offensive initiative other than Melvin Lewis, then stepped on the baseline for a turnover.

Idaho’s Mark Leslie capped the scoring with a pair of free throws. In so doing, he captured the lack of aesthetic value in the game. He banked home the first foul shot.

“That’s something I learned from (assistant) coach Jay McMillin,” said Leslie, who finished with 16 points and five assists. “He kills me with that shot in H-O-R-S-E.”

“I thought it was one of those deals where we were behind and he was trying to miss on purpose,” McMillin deadpanned.

Wait ‘til Leslie springs his back-to-thebasket, overhead chuck shot on McMillin this week. In the first half, Leslie, believing he had been fouled, tossed in a 6-footer over his shoulder with only a vague idea of the location of the hoop. Hey, he’s consistent. He banked that one, too.

Idaho started out in man defense, but Melvin Lewis overpowered Nate Gardner.

“He’s a load,” Gardner said. “He’s improved so much since the first time we played them. That’s good for them because they can’t hit those jumpers outside, they’ve got to go to him.”

Against UI’s zone, EWU impatiently tried to force the ball inside, and those turnovers became Idaho transition buckets.

The Vandals endured first-half scoring droughts of 4 minutes and 4:40, mainly because they shot well in non-drought periods. UI hit 52 percent in the first half to take a 31-21 lead.

“Pretty or ugly, we just want to get ‘em (wins),” said Gardner, who had seven boards and, more importantly, joined Kris Baumann as the only Vandals with no turnovers. “I’d say that was ugly.”

Idaho 61, E. Washington 54

IDAHO (10-12)

Dirden 4-6 4-4 13, Harrison 2-6 3-4 7, Gardner 4-8 0-0 8, Johnson 4-7 0-0 8, Leslie 5-12 4-5 16, Baumann 1-3 0-0 3, Coates 1-2 0-0 2, Jones 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 23-46 11-13 61.

EASTERN WASHINGTON (4-17)

Groves 0-1 0-2 0, Stinnett 2-8 0-0 4, M.Lewis 10-15 3-5 23, Rideout 2-10 0-0 4, Thompson 2-3 0-0 5, Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Crider 0-6 2-3 2, Porter 0-3 0-0 0, J.Lewis 5-15 3-3 16. Totals 21-61 8-13 54.

Halftime-Idaho 31, E. Washington 21. 3-Point goals-Idaho 4-13 (Dirden 1-3, Johnson 0-1, Leslie 2-6, Baumann 1-3), E. Washington 4-20 (Rideout 0-2, Thompson 1-1, Crider 0-5, Porter 0-1, J.Lewis 3-11). Fouled out-Harrison. Rebounds-Idaho 34 (Harrison 8), E. Washington 31 (M.Lewis 10). Assists- Idaho 14 (Leslie 5), E. Washington 10 (Stinnett 3). Total fouls-Idaho 13, E. Washington 12. Technicals-Idaho, Harrison. A-1,952.