Idaho’s Late Miscues Boost Weber State

The Idaho men’s basketball team had one of its best efforts in weeks on Saturday night, but the Vandals apparently weren’t willing to finish the job.

Costly Idaho turnovers helped Weber State snap a tie with 6 minutes remaining and the Wildcats went on to a 86-75 Big Sky Conference win before 9,546 fans in the Dee Events Center at Ogden, Utah.

“In these games of late, it’s like we’re running a 100-yard dash and we slow down at 80 yards,” Idaho coach Joe Cravens said. “It’s a tie race at 80 yards.”

Translation: It was tied at 59-59 with 6:40 remaining.

But Weber’s Ryan Cuff hit his only basket of the game, a 3-pointer, and Justyn Tebbs made three free throws as the Wildcats led 65-59.

UI’s Jason Jackman scored four points to narrow Weber’s lead to 65-63. However, the next two Idaho possessions ended with turnovers and Wildcat center Andy Smith’s field goal with 3:30 left propelled a clinching 11-2 run.

Idaho has lost seven of its last eight games. The Vandals, 10-14 overall and 4-8 in conference, need to win one of their remaining two games or for Northern Arizona to lose to Weber State to secure a berth in the Big Sky Tournament.

Weber senior forward Jimmy DeGraffenried scored 28 points. Smith had 21 points and nine rebounds.

“It’s back to the same thing. We played hard, but we didn’t win,” Cravens said. “We’re going to come home and work real hard and try to get something done these last two games (against Montana State and Montana).”

Weber State 86, Idaho 75

Idaho (10-14) - Baumann 7-15 0-1 18, Rose 3-9 0-0 6, Dirden 1-10 2-4 4, Gardner 3-6 1-1 7, Harrison 4-8 1-1 9, Jackman 6-12 3-3 15, Turner 4-8 2-2 10, Thomas 0-1 2-4 2, Sturing 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 30-72 11-16 75.

Weber State (18-9) - Emery 0-0 2-2 2, Cuff 1-5 2-3 5, Tebbs 5-10 8-12 19, DeGraffenried 11-17 3-5 28, Smith 8-11 5-5 21, Fisher 3-8 0-0 7, Haws 0-1 1-2 1, Baskerville 0-3 3-5 3, Ketcham 0-0 0-0 0, Hicks 0-0 0-2 0, Nilsen 0-0 0-0 0, McIntire 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-55 24-36 86.

Halftime-Weber State 40, Idaho 34. 3-Point GOALSIDAHO 4-17 (Baumann 4-10, Dirden 0-5, Rose 0-1, Sturing 0-1), Weber State 6-11 (DeGraffenried 3-3, Tebbs 1-2, Cuff 1-3, Fisher 1-3). Fouled out-Idaho, Rose, Harrison. rebounds-idaho 39 (Harrison 10), Weber State 43 (Tebbs 11). assists-idaho 13 (Rose 4), Weber State 16 (Cuff 5). Total Fouls-Idaho 29, Weber State 19. A-9,546.

Montana 76, Boise State 61

Shawn Samuelson scored 15 points and pulled down 10 rebounds as the Grizzlies (19-6, 9-3) beat the Broncos (13-12, 9-4) at Missoula, lifting themselves and Montana State past Boise State and into a share of first place.

Boise State (13-12) - Tolman 2-7, 0-0 5, Rodman 2-7 3-4 7, Huleen 6-15 1-2 14, Washington 2-5 2-2 8, Wyatt 4-12 1-2 10, Walk-Green 2-3 0-0 4, Flanagan 4-4 2-3 11, Hagman 1-2 0-0 2, Tharp 0-1 0-0 0, Van Kirk 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 23-58 9-13 61.

Montana (19-6) - Samuelson 5-10, 5-6 15, Dade 6-8 2-2 14, Covill 3-5 1-2 7, Bowie 1-2 2-2 5, Belnap 0-2 3-6 3, Walker 0-2 2-2 2, Spoja 4-8 3-4 11, Seidensticker 0-1 0-0 0, Smith 6-9 1-3 13, Dick 2-2 2-4 6. Totals 27-49 21-31 76.

Halftime-Montana 43, Boise St. 18.

Montana State 78, Idaho State 52

Quadre Lollis scored 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead the Bobcats (17-8, 9-3) to their easy victory over the Bengals (10-13, 7-6) at Bozeman, Mont.

Idaho State (11-13) - Lee 1-5 1-2 4, Brown 4-7 0-0 8, Green 8-21 2-4 18, Artis 1-8 0-0 3, Harwell 4-11 0-0 9, Tarver 2-4 0-1 5, Maxwell 2-4 1-2 5, MacArthur 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-60 4-9 52.

Montana State (17-8) - Leachman 0-4 2-2 2, Harrison 6-10 0-2 14, Lollis 8-13 3-5 19, Hatler 0-3 0-0 0, Sprinkle 6-10 0-0 15, Elliott 2-7 5-8 9, Henry 0-1 0-0 0, Fay 0-1 0-0 0, Harry 1-1 2-2 4, Sullivan 1-2 2-2 5, Holmstadt 4-6 2-3 10. Totals 28-58 16-24 78.

Halftime-Montana St. 33, Idaho St. 25. A-6.207.

, DataTimes