For the better part of Idaho’s preseason, the late second half had been a place of nightmares as they struggled to close out leads against Montana, Green Bay and New Mexico.
Ilya Pinchuk | Courtesy
Vandal forward Stephen Madison drives past Aggie guard Ryan Howley Saturday in Memorial Gym. The Vandals beat UC Davis 73 – 66 and Madison led all scorers with 21 points. Idaho visits Eastern Washington Thursday in Cheney.
Until Saturday night that is, when Idaho appeared to have turned that corner, fending off a UC Davis run to collects its second win of the season, defeating the Aggies 73-66 in the Vandals’ Cowan Spectrum opener.
“Sometimes these closer games do you some good, when you maybe didn’t play exactly right,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “We’ve had a couple of those games, one of them for sure Montana, some other games where we were right there, then Washington State the other night getting back in that. Finding a way to win and getting the stops we needed to was huge for us today.”
The game seemed to be over when Idaho was up 13 with 4:55 remaining in the game and the energy in the building going toward the Vandals. Marcus Bell and Denzel Douglas amped up the fans with coast-to-coast buckets contributing to Idaho’s largest lead of the half.
It would be Idaho’s last moments of comfort in the night. UC Davis went on a 14-3 run during the next three minutes to cut Idaho’s lead to an antsy two points.
“We kept our composure, we didn’t get frustrated, we didn’t get rattled, we just kept our game plan and executed down the stretch,” center Kyle Barone said, who was held to 12 points on the night.
With the Aggie defense keying in on Barone and Stephen Madison, it was reserve point guard Douglas who stepped up in the clutch, sinking three straight free throws and grabbing the clinching steal with 17 seconds remaining.
“I was surprised. It was probably the easiest steal I’ll get in my life,” Douglas said. “They were trying to hurry up, but I came up a little bit so he curled and his big man wasn’t with him on the same page so he threw it right to me.”
Douglas sank his two free throws after that and Idaho didn’t look back en route to its second win of the season.
Idaho’s final three out of conference games against Division I opponents are on the road, to Eastern Washington, UTEP and Boise State at Centurylink Arena in Boise.
“Huge. It was huge,” Verlin said of the win. “You worry about conference. When you’re out there working your tails off in practice, a win helps. It really helps your confidence and I hope this win gets our confidence back a little bit.”
What helped buck the trend was how Idaho clamped down defensively, forcing UC Davis into two missed 3-point shots and a turnover in the game’s final 30 seconds to close out the game on a 5-0 run.
“(We were) just playing hard, just playing smart. They went on a little run and came back but we buckled down when we needed to and got the stops when we needed to and rebounded the ball,” Madison said.
Defending the 3-point shot has been a chronic problem for Idaho most of the season – It was a DJ Shelton 3-pointer that did Idaho in at Beasley Coliseum – though the Vandals held UC Davis to 8-28 shooting from beyond the arc on the night.
“We really worked to contest the 3-point shot, we were aggressive offensively,” Verlin said. “We did some good things tonight. We’re a long ways away from being the team we’re going to be, but we’re going to be a good team when we get this thing put together.”
Putting that together could be determined by the performances and progression of a few junior college transfers who played key roles Saturday night.
Bell bounced back from a rough night against Washington State to put together a solid night with four points, four rebounds and three steals, providing Idaho with a lot of energy defensively.
“It’s coming. He’s a good kid, he works hard. Yeah he lost his composure in the WSU game, he learned from it,” Verlin said. “I thought he played with a lot of energy and a lot of emotion and I was proud of him.”
Running the point, Robert Harris made his first appearance as a Vandal, coming off battling a hamstring injury to play Saturday night.
Harris has inserted himself in the point guard situation, which is still up in the air with Mike McChristian having a poor game Saturday night.
“We’ve got more options,” Verlin said. “What I need to do with this team is I have to get the athletes on the floor. That will be able to help our defense.”
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]