Stephen Madison will go down as one of the all-time greats in Idaho basketball history, and his last home game capped off a great career for the senior from Portland, Ore.
It was a typical Madison performance on Senior Day, leading Idaho to a 83-77 victory over Grand Canyon. He led the Vandals with 34 points and added six rebounds.
“Stephen played great,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “Not only did he play great, I thought he made the big plays when we needed it. There was a number of times where he came up with a big basket, he came up with the big rebound, big defensive stop. I couldn’t be happier for Stephen to finish out his career here at Idaho at home, like this.”
In the first half, Madison scored seven straight points for Idaho leading them on a 9-2 run. For the third straight game, he averaged over two points per shot attempt.
“It was just fun,” Madison said. “We came out here and played, had a fun time, and we showed it on the court. I think that’s what helped us get the win at the end of the day.”
Senior Day also gave a glimpse into the future. Freshman Sekou Wiggs made a name for himself and was the second leading scorer with 16 points and six rebounds.
“He is very explosive around the basket and getting himself to the rim,” Verlin said. “And when he hits those free-throws, he may be our leading scorer. He has been playing very well and I couldn’t be happier with the way he’s been playing.”
He displayed the ability to get to the rim in the first half. On a fast break with two defenders standing in front of him, Wiggs split the two with a euro step leading to an easy layup.
Idaho began to pull away at the end of the first half with a 4-0 run and the beginning of the second half, they started with a 7-0 run. Everything appeared to be clicking for the Vandals and they would sail into the Moscow sunset with a blowout victory on Senior Day.
That wasn’t the case.
“It’s never easy for this team,” Verlin said. “It’s such a fine line for us. Pushing the ball, slowing it down, and when it comes to winning time, how we go about winning a basketball game and making plays when we need to.”
Idaho did not score a basket for five straight minutes in the second half, missing eight straight shot attempts. GCU would get as close as five points with 54 seconds remaining.
But on his Senior Day, Madison was not to be denied.
To close out the game, he grabbed a missed 3-pointer by GCU and was fouled immediately. Just like he’s been doing his whole career, he hit both free throws to seal the win for the Vandals.
That was the last time the Idaho home crowd would see their star.
“That was a big moment and a big play,” Verlin said. “He went up above and got a huge rebound and really sealed the game for us.”
Madison wasn’t the only senior playing in his last home game for the Vandals. Glen Dean, with 10 points, and Joe Kammerer, with one point and five rebounds, played a huge role in getting the win.
“Couldn’t be happier with the way our seniors played on Senior Day,” Verlin said.
“I thought Glen played a really good floor game. His energy really helped us. I thought he did a great job running the team. Joe Kammerer did a great job on the big boy (GCU’s Killian Larson), even though Larson got 20 rebounds, I thought Joe did a great job battling, knocking him off his post and was physical in there with him.”
Dean said before the game he was thinking about trying to go out and score 30, but he thought better of it.
“Let’s be realistic,” Dean said. “Let’s just be patient, whatever comes take it. If I get a good look, try to get Connor and Stephen going and just try to push the pace.”
The Vandals have shown they can beat the best teams in the Western Athletic Conference with the win over New Mexico State on Feb. 6, and now with a win over GCU, which was third in the conference standings.
“Finally we’re starting to embrace the system,” Verlin said. “We’re executing the system and we’re really starting to move the ball up and down the court and score a lot easier than we were earlier in the year.”
The Vandals will now head to Seattle next Saturday to take on Seattle U, a team that beat them by one point back on Feb. 1. Revenge is on their minds.
“We definitely remember what happened a couple weeks back,” Dean said. “That one point loss, it’s still in the back of our minds.”
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]