Half Truths Doom UI Super 1St Half, 2Nd-Half Fade Say Too Much About Season

Idaho replayed its season in 40 appropriate minutes Thursday. The Vandals showed what they were capable of doing, burying favored Long Beach State in a 13-point first-half hole.

Then the Vandals showed why they had a disappointing conclusion to a disappointing season. In the second half, their defensive liabilities were exposed, their limited size and bench were exploited, and their offense dried up when top gun, Gordon Scott, was muzzled.

Idaho’s maddening men’s basketball season ended in a wildly entertaining 97-86 setback to Long Beach State in front of roughly 2,000 at Lawlor Events Center. It was the Vandals’ third straight first-round exit from the Big West tournament.

As much as Idaho said all the right things earlier in the week about ripping off three straight wins and claiming the title, coaches and players admitted afterward the seeds for the early departure sprouted during the regular season. Idaho finished 12-17, its worse record since the 1985-86 team went 11-18.

“It was horrible, probably the worst season I’ve ever played in my college career but you deal with it,” said Scott, who put up 22 dazzling points in the first half, then went scoreless and rarely saw the ball in the second. “I’m not disappointed in my teammates. I’m just disappointed in wins and losses. We could have won a lot more games late in the season to put us in a better situation.”

“If you want to win a first-round game, you’d better have a better season than we had,” coach Dave Farrar said.

On Thursday, a better second half would have done the trick. Idaho was ridiculously hot in the first 20 minutes and Scott led the show. He dropped 4 of 5 3-pointers, took longtime defensive nemesis Antrone Lee off the dribble and dumped in a fading, one-handed fling from 12 feet. Scott’s 3 with Lee draped on his jersey gave Idaho a 53-40 lead.

“He just came out on fire and there was nothing I could do in the first half,” Lee said. In the second half, “I had to lock out on the shots and make him put the ball on the floor more.”

Despite shooting 68 percent and making 7 of 8 3s, Idaho’s lead melted to 54-48 at half because 49ers center Mate Milisa went on a scoring binge against whomever attempted to defend him - Kaniel Dickens, Chris Monroe or Nathaniel Watson. With front-court mate Rudy Williams sidelined with three fouls, Milisa, the conference player of the year, posted 14 points in the final 7 minutes.

He continued to torment Idaho and went on to equal the tournament record with 36 points. “He’s a versatile player, he’s not one-dimensional or two-dimensional,” Dickens said. “He’s strong and knows how to move without the ball.”

Long Beach, meanwhile, made somebody other than Scott score in the second half. The 49ers’ triangle-and-two defense allowed the senior wing just two shots in the final 20 minutes. “The triangle and two made us pass a couple more times, but it still depends on two things - Gordon’s movement and the point guards’ ability to get him the ball when he’s open,” Farrar said. “Both didn’t do quite as well as they did in the first half.”

Idaho’s turnovers began to pile up and Long Beach’s athleticism took over.

Milisa punctuated his 13-of-19 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers. Guard Ramel `Rock’ Lloyd went 1-on-1 against smaller defenders and scored 25 points. The 49ers made 53.7 percent from the field and 87.5 from the foul line.

“It’s probably fair to say our effort was pretty good, but being able to finish is the mark of a good team and we weren’t able to do that,” Farrar said. “I used to work for (former coach) Bob Boyd and he always had a comment on games like this. The game was too long. The better the (opponents’) players, the shorter the game has to be. We tried to shorten it a little, but athletically they wouldn’t let us. As it turned out, the game was too long.”

The same might be said of the season.

Long Beach State 97, Idaho 86

Idaho (12-17)-Gray 2-4 2-2 6, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Ford 4-7 1-2 9, Scott 8-11 4-6 22, Gershefske 4-8 1-2 11, Buoncristiani 2-6 2-2 8, Monroe 0-0 0-0 0, Logan 1-6 2-4 5, Lewis 1-2 2-2 4, Watson 0-0 0-0 0, Dickens 7-11 5-6 21. Totals 29-55 17-22 86.

Long Beach State (24-4)-Johnson 2-4 1-2 5, Lee 2-6 3-3 7, Milisa 13-19 8-8 36, Lloyd 9-18 5-6 25, Williams 2-3 0-0 4, Bryant 4-8 0-1 8, O’Neal 3-5 4-4 10, Stone 1-4 0-0 2, Clark 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-67 21-24 97.

Halftime-Idaho 54, Long Beach State 48. 3-Point Goals- Idaho 11-21 (Scott 4-6, Gershefske 2-3, Buoncristiani 2-4, Dickens 2-4, Logan 1-3, Ford 0-1), Long Beach State 4-15 (Milisa 2-3, Lloyd 2-5, Stone 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Bryant 0-2, Lee 0-3). Fouled Out-Gray, Williams. Rebounds-Long Beach State 32 (Milisa 10), Idaho 28 (Ford 7). Assists-Idaho 21 (Scott 6), Long Beach State 20 (Bryant 6). Total fouls- Idaho 20, Long Beach State 18. A-NA.

Other first-round games

Troy Rolle scored 16 points and Utah State extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 17 games by defeating Pacific 64-41. The Aggies advanced to a semifinal match tonight against Nevada, which defeated UC Santa Barbara 85-78. … Billy Keys scored 23 points, including 19 in the opening 11:11, as New Mexico State beat UC Irvine 70-51. The victory put New Mexico State into the semifinals against Long Beach State.