Idaho stung again

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The University of Idaho men’s basketball team is still on the road of despair.

Rickey Porter’s driving layup at the buzzer gave UC Riverside a 63-62 Big West Conference victory over the Vandals on Saturday afternoon in another disappointing road defeat.

Riverside snapped a three-game losing streak.

UI trailed by 14 at the half before coming back strongly in the last 20 minutes.

After shooting 27.3 percent in the first half, the Vandals hit 50 percent of their shots in the second half while turning up their defense and rebounding.

The Vandals took a 59-58 lead when Anton Lyons converted a three-point play with 1:41 to go.

Before his game-ending heroics, Porter gave the Highlanders a 61-59 lead with 13.6 seconds remaining with a three-point play.

But Lyons gave the Vandals the lead again, 62-61, with a putback and a free throw with 5 seconds remaining.

Porter then took an inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the floor, slashing through three defenders for his buzzer-beating layup.

UC Riverside 63, Idaho 62

Idaho (8-18, 6-9)–Jones 10-24 3-4 24, Haynes 0-1 3-4 3, Shepard 3-10 3-4 10, Lyons 7-17 3-4 17, Davis 4-5 0-0 8, Higdon 0-1 0-0 0, Bowden-Key 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 0-2 0-0 0, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Kale 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-63 12-16 62.

UC Riverside (9-15, 4-10)–Ost 2-6 0-0 6, Schille 3-4 3-3 9, Porter 3-5 3-3 10, Williams 8-12 2-3 19, Jobe 2-5 2-2 6, Bell 0-1 0-0 0, Cunningham 3-9 0-1 7, Henning 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 24-47 10-12 63.

Halftime–UC Riverside 37, Idaho 23. 3-point goals–Idaho 2-10 (Jones 1-3, Shepard 1-4, Bowden-Key 0-1, Haynes 0-1, Higdon 0-1), UC Riverside 5-14 (Ost 2-5, Williams 1-2, Cunningham 1-3, Porter 1-3, Bell 0-1). Fouled out–None. Rebounds–Idaho 32 (Lyons 8), UC Riverside 35 (Williams 8). Assists–Idaho 13 (Haynes 5), UC Riverside 17 (Ost 6). Total fouls–Idaho 14, UC Riverside 12. A–421.