Shepard leads Vandals to first WAC win
MOSCOW – The Vandals easily could have considered the halftime score – 34-34 – an accomplishment good enough for the night. Winless in its first eight games of Western Athletic Conference play, Idaho was tied with a Fresno State team it had lost to by 35 just seven days earlier.
But instead of being content after 20 minutes, Idaho turned a potential moral victory into a real one as well.
Tanoris Shepard connected on all five of his 3-point attempts in the second half – four in the first five minutes – and Idaho pulled a 72-61 upset before 1,012 at Cowan Spectrum.
“It’s the biggest win I’ve been a part of,” fifth-year Idaho coach Leonard Perry said. “Of all the things that have been written and said, there’s not a team in America that could have gone through what we went though in the preseason and the first half of the league.”
The Vandals (4-16, 1-8 WAC) had been mired in a 10-game losing streak, but Shepard’s heroics, coupled with some impressive second-half defense, gave Idaho what it needed to finally break into the win column.
In Idaho’s first eight games of league play, it had lost only twice by single digits and three times by at least 25.
“It’s been rough, but throughout the whole process we stayed with it and stayed positive,” Shepard said.
The Bulldogs (11-10, 4-6) didn’t hit a field goal from the 9:23 mark of the second half until just 17 seconds remained, when a garbage-time Dwight O’Neil dunk did nothing but alter the margin of defeat.
“This is about as well as we’ve defended since Gonzaga,” Perry said, harkening back to his team’s first game of the season.
Meanwhile, Shepard was continuing his scoring spree against a sloppy Fresno State defense.
The senior guard scored 23 of his 29 points after the half and in the process became the 12th Vandal to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career. After hitting the 3-pointers early in the half, Shepard found room in the mid-range game, repeatedly hitting runners as the shot clock wound down and the Vandals inched closer to their elusive win.
“When you get going from the outside, it definitely opens up the floor a little bit,” Shepard said. “I think it just takes the air out of a team, for them to guard us for 25, 26 seconds and then we get a basket.”
The Vandals also got an effective inside game from Mike Kale (13 points) and a strong night from diminutive guard Keoni Watson (11 points, eight rebounds), who had to deal with Fresno State’s full-court pressure.
Forget the details, though. For Perry and his Vandals, a win – any win – is something worth savoring.
“We’ll continue to get better. I believe in these kids,” Perry said. “If I have to go through what I’ve gone through this year to get these kids to this point and after this game, that’s what it’s about.”
Notes
Junior forward Igor Vrzina injured his back on Saturday and did not play. Perry said he was unsure of a timetable for his return. … Idaho opened the game on a 14-3 run, but trailed by as many as seven in the first half.