Vandals Sputter But Overturn Hornets

Idaho solved its second-half blues on Tuesday night.

OK, most of its second-half blues.

The Vandals put away Sacramento State early in the second half then added a laborious finish to an 87-72 non-conference men’s basketball win in front of 1,487 at the Kibbie Dome.

UI will take the victory, and the second-half improvement, particularly after faltering in the second halves against Idaho State and Boise State during the weekend. Both those games resulted in losses.

“That one sure ended ugly,” said UI coach Joe Cravens, after seeing a 74-50 lead degenerate into a turnover, timeout and-foul-infested final 5 minutes.

Sac State coach Donny Newman, whose Hornets had won three of their last five games, saw some improvement although the visitors dropped their 12th game of the year.

“I thought we played very well in spots,”

said Newman, the former Vandals standout, who prided himself on his work ethic and witnessed a very un-Newmanlike effort.

“I think the lapse happened when we came out of the locker room. We really didn’t come out to play. Those guys took it to us right off the bat.”

Indeed. Idaho led by as many as nine before settling for a 37-32 lead at half.

UI’s advantage quickly mushroomed with a 21-6 spurt to open the second half.

In that stretch, guard Mark Leslie hit a pair of 3-pointers and the Vandals nailed eight straight foul shots.

Idaho revved up its dormant running game as the lead fluctuated between 17 and 24 points before Cravens substituted liberally.

The Hornets finally showed some spunk in the closing minutes, pulling within 10 at the 1-minute mark before UI wrapped it up from the foul line.

“They have better athletes than us, and I don’t want that to be misconstrued,” Cravens said. “They’re big and athletic. They’re very close to being a decent team. My hat’s off to Donny. He’s remained very upbeat.”

During a 3-minute span in the first half, Sac State produced a pair of high-flying dunks and rejected two Vandals shots.

But mostly, Newman said, Sac State players were absent mentally.

“You’ve got to bring it; you’ve got to go 40 minutes,” Newman said. “We didn’t give the effort we have to give.”

Cravens, searching for an offensive boost, started three guards - Leslie, Shawn Dirden and Ben Johnson.

Cravens was generally pleased with the results as Leslie hit 21 points and Dirden had 16.

“I’m not going to change it (the lineup) after a win,” Cravens said.

UI forward Harry Harrison had 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Idaho controlled Sac State’s Damond Edwards, who came in averaging 14 points. He scored 16, but many came after the issue had been decided. He shot 5 of 14.

Sac State (3-12) is at Eastern Washington on Thursday. EWU visits UI (6-8) on Saturday night.

Idaho 87, Sacramento St. 72

SACRAMENTO ST. (3-12)

Ramirez 5-9 4-4 15, Boyd 3-6 3-3 9, Hillman 4-5 0-0 8, Hunter 5-14 0-2 10, Amos 4-6 1-3 9, Tate 0-1 1-2 1, Edwards 5-14 4-5 16, Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Collier 0-1 0-0 0, Bell 0-1 0-0 0, Stewart 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 28-61 13-19 72.

IDAHO (6-8)

Harrison 6-7 7-10 19, Gardner 2-5 2-2 6, Johnson 1-4 0-0 2, Dirden 5-8 3-4 16, Baumann 0-1 3-4 3, Spike 1-2 4-4 6, Leslie 7-11 4-6 21, Coates 1-6 1-2 3, Jones 1-5 3-4 5, Hay 1-1 4-4 6. Totals 25-50 31-40 87.

Halftime-Idaho 37, Sacramento St. 32. 3-Point goals- Sacramento St. 3-11 (Edwards 2-5, Hunter 0-2, Ramirez 1-1, Williams 0-1, Collier 0-1, Bell 0-1), Idaho 6-15 (Dirden 3-5, Leslie 3-5, Johnson 0-3, Baumann 0-1, Coates 0-1). Fouled out-Amos. Rebounds-Sacramento St. 25 (Edwards, Boyd 4), Idaho 39 (Harrison 10). Assists-Sacramento St. 11 (Hunter 5), Idaho 11 (Johnson 6). Total fouls-Sacramento St. 22, Idaho 14. A-1,487.