Vandals’ Johnson finds offense

MOSCOW, Idaho – It didn’t matter that it came against a Hawaii team winless on the road. It didn’t matter that there were open looks galore against the Warriors’ zone defense.

Steffan Johnson was just relieved that his 3-point barrage finally came – in the last home game of his collegiate career no less.

Johnson rolled to eight 3s – one shy of tying the single-game school record – and a season-high 28 points as Idaho sidestepped Hawaii 78-69 to lock up the No. 7 seed in next week’s Western Athletic Conference tournament at Reno, Nev.

The Vandals (15-15, 6-10) will play No. 2 seed Nevada (19-11) at 6 p.m. Thursday PST for a spot in the semifinals.

Johnson, a Pacific transfer who hasn’t been the explosive scorer Idaho expected, was one of four seniors in the starting lineup for the last time at Cowan Spectrum. He was honored in front of 1,502 fans before lighting up last-place UH (10-20, 3-13).

“I just wanted to finish with a bang really,” Johnson said. “You know, senior night – I wanted to make it a memorable night. I told Mac (Hopson) when we were warming up … we were going to come out and put on a show for the fans. And that’s what we did.”

Hopson also sparkled in his final home game, logging 15 points and matching a career high with 11 assists and no turnovers. The point guard contributed three of the Vandals’ 14 long-range makes, the most this year in the WAC.

The explosive performance sends UI into the postseason with a dose of long-sought-after momentum. It was expected to be an upper-tier WAC team but has failed to string together more than two consecutive wins since November.

“I really believe we’re a team that can make a run in the tournament,” coach Don Verlin said. “Like I told our guys afterward, it’s the team that plays best for 40 minutes now. It’s not the team that plays best for four months.”

Senior Kashif Watson, suspended indefinitely Friday for comments he made on Twitter criticizing Verlin, sat in jeans and a jacket behind the bench. The Vandals’ second-leading scorer was honored during a pregame senior night ceremony. His status will be reevaluated next week, Verlin said.

Watson’s replacement in the starting lineup, Shawn Henderson, provided a boost with 10 points and three assists. He also helped the Vandals register their cleanest game of the year – just five turnovers against 21 assists.

“I thought we did as good a job passing the ball to each other as we’ve done all year, and maybe the two years I’ve been here,” Verlin said.

Still, the Vandals spent much of the first half in a daze before three consecutive 3s by Johnson propelled them to a slim halftime lead after trailing 27-22.

Then, with the game tied at 54-all with less than 8 minutes left, the 6-foot-1 Johnson went off again. He splashed in three straight triples and added a breakaway dunk to fuel a decisive 16-5 spurt.

“We’ve kind of been expecting that from him all year,” Henderson said. “It felt good to be apart of it. It felt good to watch it. It was unbelievable really. I’m in the game (and) I think I’m getting more hyped than he is. He was hitting shots, I was waving at the crowd and everything. It was good.”