Vandals can’t buy basket

PORTLAND – Portland State dominated the Idaho men’s basketball team from the opening tip and never let up as it defeated the Vandals 81-48 Friday night in a non-conference game at Stott Center.

“We got off to a horrendous start in terms of scoring the basketball,” Idaho head coach Leonard Perry said. “I don’t know any other way to describe it when you miss 4- and 5-footers. It really affects your confidence.”

Portland State (7-6) opened the game with a 7-1 run and the Vandals didn’t score a field goal until the 14:02 mark. The Vikings hit seven of their first nine shots and went up 17-2 before Idaho cut the deficit to 22-17 with a 9-0 run with 9 minutes remaining.

However, the Vandals (3-7) were held scoreless the last 4 minutes of the half and the Vikings took a 39-25 lead into halftime.

“We went to our zone because their big guys were hurting us, but then their outside guys hurt us,” Perry said. “Our offense was fine. The problem was getting it to go in the basket. It happens, especially with inexperience, and the offensive end affected the defensive end.”

Idaho’s starting five was a combined 7 of 37 from the floor for the game. Tanoris Shepard led the Vandals with 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds while Matt Forge added a career-high nine points.

Portland State shot 53 percent from the floor in the game to Idaho’s 27 percent.

Ryan Sommer scored 18 points to lead Portland State to its fifth straight win.