Last jam for UI, Perry
RENO, Nev. – Idaho’s margin for error was paper-thin at best against No. 21 and regular-season champion Nevada in the first round of the Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament Thursday.
When the Vandals came out of the gate and shot just 25 percent in the first 5 minutes, that margin was already shot.
Two-time WAC player of the year Nick Fazekas scored a game-high 20 points, including eight in the first 6 minutes in leading the Wolf Pack (25-5) to the 68-55 victory in what was the final game for Idaho coach Leonard Perry and senior standout Tanoris Shepard.
The loss was Idaho’s 25th of the season – the most in school history. It was also Idaho’s ninth straight defeat and 19th of its last 20.
The Vandals’ last win came Feb. 6 when they beat Fresno State 72-61.
“I’m proud of this team and how we fought through adversity the whole entire year,” said Shepard, who scored 16 points, grabbed six rebounds, and dished out six assists in the loss. “We could easily folded up the tents and called it quits, but our guys kept plugging away and kept fighting.”
Nevada led by double digits for most of the first half, with Idaho cutting it to nine points on three different occasions before trailing 35-23 at the intermission.
“We missed some opportunities offensively in the first half to close the gap a little bit,” Perry said.
Idaho (4-25) shot 36.7 percent in the first half (39.3 percent for the game), but eight first-half turnovers led to eight points for the Wolf Pack.
With 15:40 left in the game, the Vandals trailed 42-27, but Shepard, Keoni Watson, who finished with 11 points, and Brett Ledbetter hit consecutive 3-pointers in a 9-2 run to cut the lead to eight with 13:12 left. The Vandals didn’t get any closer.
“I thought we defended about as well as we could defend,” Perry said. “In the second half, we competed and hovered around 10 or eight for a long, long time.”
After cutting the lead to eight, the Vandals didn’t score a field goal for nearly 5 minutes, allowing the Wolf Pack to build a 15-point lead. The Vandals had just two foul shots in the 9-2 Nevada run.
Idaho freshman David Dubois, who didn’t score in the first two meetings with the Wolf Pack, led the Vandals with 19 points – two less than his career high. He also had a team-high eight rebounds.
The Wolf Pack spread out the scoring and the minutes.
Behind Fazekas’ 20, Marcelus Kemp had 14..
In other WAC Tournament games Thursday, Louisiana Tech beat Boise State 75-64, Utah State ousted San Jose State 76-69 and New Mexico State edged Hawaii 58-57.
Nevada 68, Idaho 55
Idaho (4-25)—Watson 4-8 2-4 11, Shepard 6-14 2-4 16, Vrzina 0-1 0-0 0, Dubois 9-19 1-2 19, Kale 1-5 0-2 2, Forge 0-1 0-0 0, Jakovljevic 0-0 0-0 0, Ledbetter 2-7 0-0 6, Nwoke 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 22-56 6-14 55.
Nevada (25-5)—Shiloh 0-5 1-2 1, Kemp 4-12 5-7 14, Sessions 2-5 0-0 4, Fazekas 8-9 3-3 20, Johnson 5-5 1-2 11, Burleson 1-2 2-2 4, Charlo 3-6 4-7 10, Taylor 0-0 0-0 0, Ellis 1-2 0-0 2, Ikovlev 0-1 0-0 0, Bell 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 25-50 16-23 68.
Halftime—Nevada 35, Idaho 23. 3-point goals—Idaho 5-18 (Shepard 2-6, Ledbetter 2-7, Watson 1-2, Dubois 0-1, Vrzina 0-1, Forge 0-1), Nevada 2-13 (Fazekas 1-2, Kemp 1-5, Burleson 0-1, Ellis 0-1, Ikovlev 0-1, Charlo 0-1, Shiloh 0-2). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—Idaho 29 (Dubois 8), Nevada 39 (Fazekas 9). Assists—Idaho 11 (Shepard 6), Nevada 16 (Sessions 6). Total fouls—Idaho 16, Nevada 12. A—NA.