Lyons propels Vandals past Eagles

Non-conference games are about learning.

Sunday afternoon Idaho learned it has options on offense and help on defense; Eastern Washington reaffirmed it has problems.

Anton Lyons hit four free throws in the final 30 seconds to lift the Vandals to 52-50 win over the Eagles before 1,747 fans at Reese Court.

“I can make my free throws when it’s crunch time,” said Lyons, who entered the game as a 63-percent shooter. “When the game is on the line you have to make them.”

It was his rebound and two free throws with 22.6 seconds left that broke a 47-47 tie. After an Eastern miss, Tanoris Shepard made one of two and then Lyons iced the win following another miss by making two free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining.

Lyons finished with 18 points, double his season average, proving the Vandals have a viable option to Dandrick Jones and Shepard, who had 13 and 14 points, respectively.

“We haven’t done a good job of getting him involved offensively more,” UI coach Leonard Perry said. “He’s a guy that can score, he’s very difficult to stop. He’s just now coming into his own.”

The Vandals also learned that sharp-shooter Dillon Higdon, who hit two big 3-pointers in the second half, and seldom used big-man Matt Anderson, can contribute on defense when the game is on the line.

Foul trouble forced Anderson, who averaged less than five minutes in the four games he had played in, to play 13 minutes. Higdon’s minutes have dropped because of poor defense. Both were in down the stretch.

“I don’t think offense has ever been (Higdon’s) problem,” Perry said. “His problem has been defense. Tonight he was able to come in and help us defensively. That’s going to get him more minutes. Matt Anderson was incredible tonight. He came in (and) played unbelievable. He made it tough (for EWU) to score in the post.”

Lyons said, “We’re a defensive team whether we like it or not. Coach makes us play defense. Normally a guy off the bench will come in and (score). We pretty much stopped that and coach said if you stop Axton, you’ll win.”

And now the Vandals (3-9) know they can win on the road.

“It was a big win,” Perry said. “It’s our first road win. The kids came out and executed our game plan. (The Eagles) play hard, they’re always going to be in the game. Down the stretch our kids made some good plays.”

What Perry already knew is that his team can play defense, particularly Jones, who did a majority of the work to stymie Eastern’s leading scorer Marc Axton. Axton scored his first basket with just over 5 minutes left and only added a meaningless 3 at the final buzzer.

“I knew what we were capable of doing,” Perry said. “Look back on our stats … we’ve stopped pretty much everybody’s leading scorer. It’s the supporting cast that’s killed us. Our kids know what they’re doing, they’re capable of shutting anybody down on any given night. I thought Dandrick was just incredible tonight. He really made (Axton) work, not just to score but just to catch it.”

The problem for the Eagles (3-10) was that despite hitting just 2 of 7 shots, Axton was their leading scorer with 10 points, almost nine below his average.

“Obviously that was their game plan, and kudos for them for doing that,” EWU coach Mike Burns said. “They did a phenomenal job of guarding Marc but there were times we didn’t do a good job of getting the ball to Marc. That is something we have to get better at.”

The Eagles need to find reliable offensive options, which means shooting better than 38 percent.

“(The difference was) an inability to make shots,” Burns said. “It was a great defensive effort by both teams. It was a physical game, both teams are scrappy. We had some looks and we couldn’t get it to go down.”

The biggest lead in the game that featured 13 ties and 10 lead changes, was five points, which the Vandals had early and late. Eastern led by three six times.

Idaho 52, E. Washington 50

Idaho (3-9)–Jones 4-10 5-6 13, Lyons 6-10 6-6 18, Davis 0-0 1-3 1, Haynes 0-3 0-0 0, Shepard 5-9 1-2 14, Higdon 2-4 0-0 6, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Kahrimanovic 0-2 0-0 0, Anderson 0-0 0-0 0, Kale 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-39 13-17 52.

Eastern Washington (3-10)–Bekkering 2-4 5-6 9, Axton 2-7 5-6 10, Beitinger 1-4 0-2 2, Smith 2-8 4-6 8, Pariseau 1-2 5-6 8, Scheffler 0-1 0-0 0, Henkel 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0, Loe 0-1 0-0 0, Butorac 4-7 1-2 9, Nicholas 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 14-37 20-28 50.

Halftime–Eastern Washington 24, Idaho 23. 3-point goals–Idaho 5-15 (Shepard 3-5, Higdon 2-4, Haynes 0-1, Kahrimanovic 0-1, Jones 0-4), Eastern Washington 2-12 (Pariseau 1-2, Axton 1-4, Bekkering 0-1, Beitinger 0-1, Smith 0-1, Scheffler 0-1, Butorac 0-2). Fouled out–Davis. Rebounds–Idaho 27 (Davis 12), Eastern Washington 24 (Smith 5). Assists–Idaho 9 (Haynes 3), Eastern Washington 9 (Pariseau 5). Total fouls–Idaho 25, Eastern Washington 20. Technicals–Johnson. A–1,747.