Vandals’ lineup shake-up irrelevant in 3rd straight loss

Mon., Feb. 20, 2006

The Spokesman-Review

The Idaho men’s basketball team shook up its starting lineup Saturday, but the Vandals couldn’t shake their losing streak.

Nebojsa Jakovljevic and Igor Vrzina moved into the starting five, but Idaho lost 79-69 to Montana State, the Vandals’ third consecutive defeat. The Vandals (4-19, 1-10 WAC) return home to face WAC-leading Nevada (20-5, 9-3) today at 1 at the Cowan Spectrum – the earlier start time due to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. Wednesday’s game against Hawaii will be played in Memorial Gym.

Idaho is on the verge of back-to-back 20-loss seasons for the first time since 1976-78.

Nevada routed 19-win Akron by 27 points in a BracketBusters contest Friday, giving the Wolf Pack three consecutive 20-win seasons. Nevada features WAC player of the year candidate Nick Fazekas, who leads the conference in scoring.

•The North Idaho College women’s basketball team defeated Colorado Northwestern 66-44 Friday and 99-63 Saturday to maintain first place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. Neither score was reported to this newspaper.

NIC received help elsewhere when Salt Lake defeated second-place College of Southern Idaho on Saturday. That means NIC needs only one win when it entertains Eastern Utah on Friday and Saturday to wrap up the title and earn hosting rights to the Region 18 women’s and men’s tournaments.

Track and field

Idaho picked up five first-place finishes Saturday at the McDonald’s Open in Moscow.

Russ Winger again hit an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the men’s shot put, winning the event with a toss of 58 feet, 6 inches.

Allix Lee-Painter and Heather Bergland won the women’s 800-meter run and 60-meter hurdles, respectively.

Jen Broncheau won he women’s weight throw with a throw of 56-71/4, and Idaho’s men won the 4x400m relay in a time of 3 minutes, 21.56 seconds.

Football

Ryan Knowles, a Sandpoint High graduate who played a key role on Idaho’s 1998 Humanitarian Bowl championship team, has been hired as defensive line coach at NCAA Division I-AA Colgate.

Knowles has been a UI graduate assistant.

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.

Vandals’ lineup shake-up irrelevant in 3rd straight loss

Track and field

Football

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

New: A Grip on Sports: Mark Few's belief in Gonzaga's future not only led the program to a place among the nation's best, it led him to basketball's Hall of Fame

Gonzaga coach Mark Few reportedly voted into Naismith Hall of Fame: 'One of the best our game has ever seen'

Mark Few's loyalty, pedigree pay off with admittance to basketball's most exclusive club | Dave Boling