Watson, Vandals snap losing streak

MOSCOW, Idaho – It was a long, strange night for University of Idaho senior guard Keoni Watson.

He set a career high with seven assists and had a season-high six rebounds. He got benched at the start of the second half because he delved too deeply into coaching instead of playing.

And finally, he navigated the right side of the lane and took what appeared to be an extra hop before banking in the decisive basket in the Vandals’ 72-67 men’s basketball victory over South Dakota State in front of 721 Saturday at the Cowan Spectrum.

“It was a college travel, an NBA pro hop,” Watson said of his field goal with 45 seconds left that snapped a 67-all score. “It could have gone either way. I’m glad it went my way, though. We definitely needed (a break). It’s been rough.”

Idaho (2-10) snapped a nine-game losing streak and avoided a 1-11 start for the first time in 35 years. Both Vandals victories have come against South Dakota State (4-11), which played six of seven December games on the road.

“You saw it and I saw it,” Jackrabbits coach Scott Nagy said of the no-call on Watson’s basket, “but whether there was a call or not that was just one call in a game where we quite honestly had dumb play after dumb play. We didn’t deserve to win.”

South Dakota State’s Garrett Callahan missed an open 3-pointer with 30 seconds left. Watson grabbed the rebound and was fouled. His two free throws sealed Idaho’s first home win of the season.

“For a team that hasn’t been in very many of these types of situations, I thought we did a really good job of making some plays,” Idaho coach George Pfeifer said.

The Vandals had five players in double figures, led by Trevor Morris’ season-high 16 points off the bench. He scored 13 in the second half, including two 3-pointers that helped Idaho turn a 46-40 deficit into a 55-49 lead.

“I had a good focus on letting the game come to me all week and my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball when I was open and I finally knocked down some shots,” Morris said.

Junior forward Darin Nagle, who finished with 14 points, gave Idaho some much-needed interior scoring. Clyde Johnson scored 13 points and true freshman forward David Jackson supplied 10 points and seven boards in his first start.

“Balanced scoring, obviously, we like that,” Pfeifer said. “We like shooting 56 percent in the second half and holding them to 32 percent. We like five turnovers in the second half versus 11 in the first half.”

The Vandals bolted in front 9-0 and led 14-5 after 5 minutes. South Dakota State responded with four 3-pointers in an 18-0 run over the next 8 minutes. The Jackrabbits led 33-29 at half after connecting on 7 of 9 3s.

Watson sat out roughly the first 5 minutes of the second half after getting “frustrated about certain things” in the first half.

“I just thought we should have been playing harder and a lot of guys weren’t asking for the ball,” Watson said. “When you have somebody on you that’s a little shorter, you should be the first one yelling for the ball. I got a little frustrated about that and just yelled a little bit.”

Nagy, whose team held its own on the boards despite starting a front line of 6-foot-5, 6-5 and 6-3, thought effort was the deciding factor.

“Starting four freshmen and a sophomore, we’re not going to beat anybody with our size if they play harder than us,” Nagy said. “They acted like they needed to win more than we did.”

Idaho opens WAC play Thursday at Fresno State and Saturday at Nevada.

Idaho 72, S.Dakota St. 67

South Dakota State (4-11)—Callahan 5-9 0-2 14, Cadwell 7-20 2-2 19, Yackley 1-4 2-2 4, Williams 1-7 2-2 4, Bassett 3-6 0-0 7, Casey 4-5 0-0 11, Frias 2-5 4-4 8, Engen 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-58 10-12 67.

Idaho (2-10)—C.Johnson 4-7 2-4 13, Watson 6-16 2-2 14, Avworo 1-2 0-0 3, Nagle 5-10 3-5 14, Jackson 4-8 2-2 10, Crowell 0-1 0-0 0, M.Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Morris 5-8 3-3 16, Nwoke 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 26-54 12-16 72.

Halftime—South Dakota State 33, Idaho 29. 3-point goals—South Dakota State 11-23 (Callahan 4-6, Casey 3-4, Cadwell 3-8, Bassett 1-1, Williams 0-1, Frias 0-1, Yackley 0-2), Idaho 8-20 (C.Johnson 3-5, Morris 3-6, Avworo 1-2, Nagle 1-2, Crowell 0-1, Watson 0-4). Fouled out—Frias. Rebounds—South Dakota State 35 (Cadwell, Yackley 6), Idaho 32 (Jackson 7). Assists—South Dakota State 12 (Cadwell, Casey 4), Idaho 16 (Watson 7). Total fouls—South Dakota State 16, Idaho 16. A—721.