Vandals Use Hard Work To Put Down Zags, 71-64 Curry Plays Hero’s Role For UI; Conference Openers Up Next

They enter their respective conference seasons now - Idaho feeling good about itself; Gonzaga not quite as chipper, thanks to the hard-working Vandals.

Idaho did what it does best - outsweat its opponent - and hung a 71-64 men’s basketball loss on the Bulldogs before 2,342 at the Kibbie Dome on Monday night.

“The team that played the hardest won. The team that deserved to win won,” said Gonzaga coach Dan Monson, whose team slipped to 11-4 heading into West Coast Conference road games at Loyola Marymount on Friday and Pepperdine on Saturday.

The surprising Vandals, who open their Big West slate on Thursday against UC Santa Barbara in the Kibbie Dome, improved to 6-4 as guard Avery Curry scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half.

“It was a very important win for us to go into conference on a positive note,” Curry said. “We open at home, which is good for us, and our team is playing pretty good.”

Curry didn’t play well in the first half, but he emerged after Gonzaga pared Idaho’s lead to 48-47 with 12:25 left. He hit three consecutive jumpers, despite defenders being draped on his jersey.

“I’m pretty comfortable with a lot of different people having the ball,” UI coach Dave Farrar said, “but I’m more comfortable with him having it.”

Idaho, which lost to Gonzaga 76-60 in Spokane a month ago, outrebounded the Bulldogs 42-37 and seemed to gather up most of the loose balls.

The aggressive Vandals bumped and jostled GU shooters into a season-low 40.6-percent shooting night.

“They were able to dictate our shots and we didn’t dictate anything to them at the other end,” Monson said. “It’s the first game this year where I’m just disappointed at our kids’ effort. It’s too bad you go into league and your last pre-conference game is the one you’re most disappointed in.”

Idaho led by as many as eight in the first half, fueled by Kris Baumann’s five 3-pointers in the first 9 minutes.

Curry’s jump-shooting burst in the second half put UI on top 54-50. Clifford Gray’s layup hiked Idaho’s lead to 61-53 with 5:35 remaining.

The Bulldogs closed within 63-62 on Bakari Hendrix’s bucket. Curry scored Idaho’s last eight points, the first when he ran GU’s Matt Santangelo into screen and scored an easy layup.

Santangelo countered with a 15-footer before Curry misfired on a 3-pointer. With 45 seconds left, GU bungled a chance to go ahead when Quentin Hall’s pass went through the hands of an unsuspecting Hendrix.

Curry drove for a layin and a 67-64 lead. Hall missed a 3-pointer, then fouled Curry after a scramble for the ball. Hall was tagged with a technical foul when he got in Curry’s face. Curry proceeded to bag four straight free throws.

“That was a war,” Farrar said. “We played (Gonzaga) a month ago, so where are we now? Have we progressed? The answer to that is, we have gotten better and we can get better still.”

Santangelo led GU with 18 points. Hendrix had 12 points. No other Zags reached double figures.

Idaho 71, Gonzaga 64

Gonzaga - (11-4) Leasure 1-3 0-0 3, Hendrix 6-13 0-1 12, Dench 2-8 1-3 6, Santangelo 8-18 0-0 18, Frahm 1-4 2-2 5, Hall 2-7 2-4 8, Floyd 0-0 0-0 0, Spink 0-0 0-0 0, Nilson 2-3 0-0 4, Calvary 0-1 0-0 0, Griffin 4-7 0-2 8. Totals 26-64 5-12 64

Idaho (6-4) - Gray 3-7 0-0 6, Banks 3-8 2-3 8, Tosi 2-3 1-2 5, Baumann 5-10 0-0 15, Curry 7-16 5-7 19, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Toal 4-5 0-0 8, Thompson 3-8 2-4 8, Byrne 1-1 0-0 2, Hampton 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 28-61 10-16 71

Halftime-Idaho 40, Gonzaga 36. 3-Point goals-Gonzaga 7-17 (Leasure 1-2, Hendrix 0-1, Dench 1-3, Santangelo 2-5, Frahm 1-2, Hall 2-4) Idaho 5-10 (Banks 0-1, Baumann 5-7, Curry 0-2). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Gonzaga 37 (Dench 8), Idaho 42 (Gray 10). Assists-Gonzaga 7 (Santangelo, Hall 2), Idaho 11 (Gray, Toal 3). Total fouls-Gonzaga 14, Idaho 18. A-2,342

, DataTimes