Vandals hang on, top UCR

MOSCOW, Idaho – It hadn’t been a particularly smooth night for Tanoris Shepard on offense, Dandrick Jones on defense or the Idaho Vandals on either end of the court.

That changed with the game hanging in the balance.

In the closing seconds, Shepard hit a jump shot to put Idaho on top and Jones made a defensive stand to preserve the lead as the Vandals hung on for a 56-54 Big West Conference win over UC Riverside in front of 2,143 Thursday at the Cowan Spectrum.

The Vandals (6-11, 4-2 Big West) moved into sole possession of third place with the victory. Idaho, which entertains Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. Saturday, is tied with second-place Cal State Northridge (8-8, 6-2) in the loss column.

The Vandals were out of sync throughout, but managed to squeeze past the pesky Highlanders (6-9, 2-4), who lost All-Big West center Vili Morton to a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago.

“We haven’t played that bad in a while,” said Jones, who scored 14 points, but made just 5 of 15 shots. “We came out sluggish and it carried through the whole game. It wasn’t pretty, but we got the win.”

Idaho led most of the way, but saw a 48-40 lead dissolve into a 54-53 deficit when talented UCR freshman Larry Cunningham hit a pair of free throws with 39.2 seconds left.

The Vandals designed a play for Anton Lyons, but it broke down and Shepard became the primary option. His 17-foot shot hit the front rim and kissed gently off the backboard before settling into the net with 22 seconds remaining.

“The second part of the play is for me to come off a stagger screen and coach (Leonard Perry) just told me to look for my shot,” Shepard said. “I knew it was in. I always shoot it with confidence.”

The Highlanders isolated Cunningham, who had scored a game-high 18 points, on the left wing. As he drove the right side of the lane, he had a step on Jones but the Vandal senior reached back and tied up Cunningham as he was rising to shoot. A tense second or two passed before the official ruled a jump ball with Idaho on the favorable end of the possession arrow with 6.6 seconds left.

“It was clean,” a smiling Jones said.

Cunningham had a different view.

“I tried to go up strong and I believe his right hand hit my left arm,” Cunningham said. “And his other hand did get a little ball, but he clearly smacked my arm before the shot.”

UCR coach John Masi declined comment as he quickly exited the locker room for a waiting bus.

“He’s getting no sympathy from me,” Perry said. “We’ve had our share of calls that didn’t go our way, way too many.”

Lionel Davis hit the first of two free throws with 2.9 ticks remaining, but missed the second. UCR’s Steve Williams rebounded, dribbled to midcourt and fired a pass to Steve Ost. The buzzer went off as Ost started the shooting motion on a 3-point attempt that was off line.

“I was disappointed in our play,” Perry said. “That’s taking nothing away from Riverside because I thought they played great. We lost the rebounding war; we put that team on the (foul) line 22 times. I thought they took it to us.”

A non-descript first half ended with UC Riverside scoring 13 of the last 17 points to forge a 25-25 tie. With Jones and Anton Lyons combining for every point in a 14-6 run, Idaho moved back on top 44-37. Lyons’ layup bumped the margin to 48-40 with 8:45 to play.

Shepard’s 3-pointer near the 7-minute mark kept Idaho on top 51-46, but the Highlanders caught up when the Vandals’ offense dried up.

“I was impressed with our composure,” Perry said. “We missed some shots, but I don’t think we ever panicked.”