Vandals’ road continues downhill trend
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 Saturday afternoon in another disappointing result on the road.
Idaho has won twice away from home this season, only one of those coming against a conference opponent.
The Vandals lost their fourth consecutive game, dropping to 8-18 overall and 6-9 in the Big West.
The Vandals fell to fifth place in the conference race. UC Santa Barbara went ahead of the Vandals by defeating Cal Poly on Saturday night.
Riverside snapped a three-game losing streak and kept alive its hopes for a spot in the conference tournament as it pulled into a tie for eighth with Long Beach State. Both are 4-10 in the Big West. The Highlanders are 9-15 overall.
UI trailed by 14 at the half in the afternoon game 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.
Porter answered with a three-point play that put Riverside ahead 61-59 with 13.6 seconds remaining. 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.
Dandrick Jones, the conference’s top scorer, led UI with 24 points and seven rebounds . Lyons had 17 points and eight rebounds.
Idaho wraps up its home schedule next week with Thursday’s game against UC Irvine and Saturday’s game against Long Beach State. Both games are at Memorial Gym because of the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival. Thursday’s game begins at 7 p.m.; Saturday’s is at 5 p.m.
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.