Vandal Loss Forces A Waiting Game Idaho Needs Win By Nevada To Advance To Tournament

The University of Nevada picked up a lot of fans Saturday night.

And the cheers will be coming from Moscow today after the Vandals’ postseason fate headed south to Reno after a 72-58 Big West Conference men’s basketball loss to Boise State before 11,735 at the Pavilion.

The Wolf Pack play New Mexico State this afternoon in the Lawlor Events Center. If Nevada wins, the Vandals advance to next week’s Big West tournament, but if New Mexico State wins, Idaho’s season ends with a 15-10 overall record, 9-7 in the Big West.

BSU (17-12, 9-7) advances to the tournament and could finish as high as the third seed from the East.

While there was disappointment in not being in control of their own fate, the worst disappointment for the Vandals was that they were not at their best against their archrival.

“They just played harder than we did,” center Mao Tosi said. “They did a lot of things better than we did.”

In the first half, that wasn’t necessarily the story. The Vandals’ biggest lead was only four, but they stayed within range, trailing just 38-32 at halftime.

The second half was an entirely different story. For their shooting efficiency from the field, the Vandals might as well as have been playing in the dark. The Broncos opened with an 11-2 run that broke Idaho’s rhythm. At one point, only one shot in 12 had dropped. For the second half, the Vandals were a dismal 8 of 32.

“We weren’t passing the ball a lot,” said point guard Avery Curry, who led Idaho with 20 points and five rebounds. “I was trying to do a lot of stuff on my own. I was just trying too hard. I know I wasn’t keeping the offense running smoothly.”

Boise State, which was inspired and ignited by the 25 points of Mike Tolman, including 7 of 13 from 3-point range, built leads of as many as 18 points in the second half.

The Vandals made runs at the Broncos, but the disjointed play never completely vanished and they never cut the lead to less than 10.

“They were just a well-organized team that had a better plan than us,” said coach David Farrar, who in his first season has taken a team picked to be last in the Eastern Division to the verge of postseason play. “We didn’t do anything we have to do in this environment to have success.

“We didn’t pass enough. We didn’t make them guard us long enough. We all were broken down by the defense and way too individualistic.”

The Boise State defense might have been the most aggressive and smothering the Vandals have faced all year. Both teams scored nearly one-third of their points from the free-throw line in a game that featured 53 fouls and 73 free throws (Idaho was 23 of 37 and BSU was 25 of 36).

Other than Curry’s 20 points, the only other offensive punch came from Clifford Gray, and he, like his teammates, was inconsistent, with just 12 points. And unlike their victory over the Broncos in Moscow last month, the Vandals had limited success on the boards. In the Kibbie Dome, they won the board battle by 17. Saturday night it was even, with each team pulling down 37.

Now comes the wait.

“It’s kind of hard putting yourself in somebody else’s hands,” Curry said.

Boise St. 72, Idaho 58

Idaho (15-11) - Baumann 1-5 0-0 2, Gray 4-8 4-5 12, Curry 5-15 7-10 20, Banks 2-9 4-8 8, Tosi 0-2 1-3 1, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 0-2 2-2 2, Byrne 3-4 1-3 7, Toal 1-4 4-6 6, Hampton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-49 23-37 58.

Boise State (17-12) - Washington 0-5 4-7 4, Woods 3-4 4-7 10, Bergersen 3-12 5-7 11, Tolman 9-17 0-0 25, Van Kirk 3-4 0-1 6, Flanagan 1-3 8-10 10, Graham 0-0 0-0 0, Fox 0-0 0-0 0, Hagman 1-5 0-0 2, Shephard 0-0 4-4 4, Tillman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-50 25-36 72.

Halftime-BSU 38, UI 32. 3-Point goals-UI 3-14 (Curry 3-8, Banks 0-1, Toal 0-2, Baumann 0-3), BSU 17-22 (Tolman 7-13, Washington 0-2, Hagman 0-2, Bergersen 0-5). Fouled out-UI Toal, BSU Bergersen, Van Kirk. Rebounds-UI 37 (Gray 7), BSU 37 (Tolman 12). Assists-UI 7 (Toal 2, Tosi 2), BSU 7 (Washington 5). Technicals-BSU, Bergersen. Total fouls-UI 28, BSU 25. A-11,735.