Despite strong second half, Portland State holds off Idaho 76-69

MOSCOW, Idaho – The score didn’t tell the story when Portland State held off Idaho 76-69 in Big Sky Conference play Thursday.

But the narrative for the Vandals was so much better than a seven-point loss.

The Vikings were on the way to decisively routing the Vandals until Idaho recovered from a poor first half and Titus Yearout rediscovered his shot.

“It was a disappointing loss for us,” Idaho coach Alex Pribble said. “We took a step backward.”

But the Vandals went from being awed by the quick and physically imposing Vikings who played free with wraparound and no-look passes.

PSU owned everything at the rim in fashioning a 39-19 first-half lead, but left ICCU Arena happy to get away.

After halftime, the Vandals outscored the Vikings 50-37. In the final 12 minutes, Idaho reduced PSU’s 55-35 lead to just five points (72-67) with 27.3 seconds to play.

Yearout was the major architect of the comeback. The 6-foot-2 sophomore guard was a premier high school player at Lapwai (Idaho) High School, but he had been seldom used by the Vandals, and mostly at the end of games and to give an occasional defensive spark.

In the final 2:50 of the second half against PSU, though, he became Idaho’s leading scorer with 14 points.

First, he scored on a drive. Thirty seconds later, on Idaho’s next trip down the court, Yearout, who rarely shoots, hit a step-back 3-pointer – to the crowd’s delight.

In his less than three minutes of offense, Yearout went 4 of 5 from the floor, including 2 of 3 on 3-pointers, and he hit all four free-throw attempts.

For good measure, he grabbed three rebounds and had a steal.

“Titus is a competitor,” Pribble said. “Every opportunity he gets, he tries to make the most of it. He’s doing it because he wants us to win.”

Pribble also singled out reserves Jayden Stevens, who grabbed three rebounds and hit a 3-pointer, and Takai Hardy, who went 6 of 8 at the free-throw line, pulled down a rebound, and in his 16-plus minutes of playing time matched the Vikings’ physical play.

“I was really proud,” Pribble said of Yearout, Stevens and Hardy.

“These are guys who have not had a lot of opportunities, and they really came through tonight. They are going to get rewarded for that.”

In dominating the Vandals early, PSU seemed as though it wanted to play the entire game from the 4-foot restricted arc, and Idaho looked willing to concede the paint. Overall, the Vikings outscored the Vandals inside 46-20, but their dominance there was sharply reduced in the second half.

Pribble attributed this less to strategic adjustments than to “understanding the level of physicality coming at us. I think we did a better job in the second half.”

PSU’s Isaiah Johnson led all scorers with 22 points. Terri Miller Jr. and Cole Farrell backed him with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

For Idaho, Kolton Mitchell and Kristian Gonzalez followed Yearout with 12 apiece.

As a team, Idaho was 15 of 30 from the field in the second half after a 7-of-26 effort in the first half.

PSU went the other way, putting Idaho in a hole with 58.6% shooting (17 for 29) from the floor in the first half but chilling to 10 of 25 (40%) during the final half.

PSU improved to 14-9 overall and 6-4 in the Big Sky Conference, good for third place.

Idaho slipped to 10-14 and 5-6 and fifth in the Big Sky.

The Vandals take on Sacramento State Saturday.

Against the Hornets, Pribble expects to face one of the conference’s best defenses.

After the loss to PSU, Pribble was not much for either wallowing in dismay or being elated by the Vandals’ near comeback.

“We just have to learn and improve,” he said. “It’s not about an emotional response. It’s about a logical reaction. We will dig into the film and the individual players and what they need to improve.”

Which may be true, but the story of the game was still way better than a seven-point loss.

Women

Idaho 66, Portland State 62: Anja Bukvic and Hope Hassmann both converted two free throws in the final 30 seconds to help the Vandals (16-6, 8-3 Big Sky) hold off the Vikings (4-15, 1-9) at Viking Pavilion in Portland.

Bukvic led Idaho with 17 points, while Rosie Schweizer added 13 points and 13 rebounds and Jennifer Aadland contributed 11 points.

Laynee Torres-Kahapea and Alaya Fitzgerald scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Vikings.