Northern Colorado catches fire in second half to turn away Idaho 91-83

GREELEY, Colo. – The Idaho men’s basketball team had a chance to stamp its place in the top-half of the Big Sky Conference on Thursday.

Northern Colorado had other ideas, pulling away in the second half for a 91-83 victory at Bank of Colorado Arena for just its second win in eight games.

The loss will go down as a major setback for the Vandals (12-9, 4-4 Big Sky), who found scoring options in Jack Rasmussen (26 points) and Kolton Mitchell (19), but shot a collective 38% from the field.

Biko Johnson was the biggest contributor to the off shooting night, making 1 of 12 attempts from the field.

Quinn Denker conducted an efficient Bears’ (12-10, 2-7) offense with 35 points and 10 assists. He made on 10 of 17 attempts from the field and hit 12 of 14 free throws, while also turning the ball over once.

Idaho led 37-36 at halftime before Northern Colorado shot 60% from the field in the second half.

Women

Idaho 62, Northern Colorado 55: The Vandals secured a validating victory over one of the Big Sky’s contenders.

Idaho (16-5, 7-1) extended their winning streak to five and moved into a tie for first place in the conference standings, beating third-place Northern Colorado (15-7, 6-3) at Bank of Colorado Arena.

The Vandals led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, but the Bears rallied to tie it heading into the fourth. The Vandals responded with a Lorena Barbosa tip-in and a 3 from Kyra Gardner to open the period, and held on for their best conference win.

Barbosa and guard Hope Hassmann had 15 points apiece for Idaho, which shot 43% from the field and held UNC to 32%.