Vandals Put It In Reverse During Loss To Mustangs

Kermit Davis wasn’t about to make any excuses for Saturday afternoon’s 72-51 pummeling by lightly-regarded Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

He might, however, wonder what happened to his University of Idaho Vandals, who, despite being short-handed and undersized, had been showing promise.

“I really think our team took some major steps backward on this trip,” said Davis, after an 0-2 road swing through California left IU 10-13 overall, 3-7 in the Big West and a longshot, at best, for a postseason conference tournament berth.

In suffering their third-worst defeat of the season, the Vandals at times trailed by 24 points and turned the ball over a season-high 25 times against the fullcourt pressure of the Mustangs (4-6, 11-12).

“The whole key was turnovers,” Davis said. “Our playmaking skills were as bad as I’ve ever seen.”

To make matters worse, the Vandals shot poorly (39.5 percent) for the second consecutive game.

In contrast, the Mustangs made 52 percent of their 3-point attempts. Ben Larson made the most of the opportunities with a Cal Poly record seven 3-pointers en route to a 25-point afternoon.

In an effort to improve the Vandals’ perimeter defense, Davis issued a halftime challenge to his players. “I said, ‘I’m going to take you out if a guy makes a 3 on you,”’ Davis said. “It was like a revolving door.”

Eddie Turner led the Vandals with 21 points and five rebounds to go with four assists.

The Vandals are at home Tuesday against WSU at 7 p.m.

Cal Poly SLO 72, Idaho 51

Idaho (10-13) - Thompson 2-5 0-0 4, Byrne 3-6 3-4 9, Jackson 2-7 2-3 6, Baumann 1-5 2-3 5, Turner 7-11 7-10 21, Elliott 2-5 0-0 6, Scott 0-1 0-1 0, Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Wendt 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 17-43 14-21 51.

Cal Poly SLO (11-12) - Fleming 0-2 1-2 1, Wozniak 5-12 4-4 17, Levesque 5-13 2-2 12, Ohnstad 1-2 0-0 3, Larson 9-13 0-0 25, Cotright 4-9 2-2 12, Bryant 0-2 0-0 0, Bryden 0-0 0-0 0, Ketcham 0-4 2-3 2. Totals 24-57 11-13 72.

Halftime-Cal Poly SLO 37, Idaho 23. 3-Point goals-Idaho 3-7 (Elliott 2-3, Baumann 1-2, Wendt 0-2), Cal Poly SLO 13-25 (Larson 7-9, Wozniak 3-8, Cotright 2-2, Ohnstad 1-1, Bryant 0-1, Ketcham 0-4). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Idaho 31 (Thompson, Byrne 6), Cal Poly SLO 31 (Cotright 7). Assists- Idaho 8 (Turner 4), Cal Poly SLO 12 (Ohnstad 7). Total fouls- Idaho 18, Cal Poly SLO 19. A-2,897.