The Idaho men’s basketball team survived a successful first half Saturday in Las Cruces, but ultimately fell victim to a sluggish second half and dropped its second conference match-up of the season, 80-68 to New Mexico State.
The Vandals (9-9, 2-2) committed 25 fouls and allowed their opponents 32 free throw attempts, of which the Aggies converted 21.
It looked to be a potential upset for the visitors, who were coming off a huge road win in Ruston against La. Tech. The Vandals held a 37-35 lead at halftime and led by as many as nine points in the first half, despite the Aggies’ 56 percent shooting from the field.
“They just kind of wore us down there at the end,” coach Don Verlin said. “They just move you down there, move you down there and get a lot of fouls called, and tonight they made their free throws at a really good clip.”
Idaho has become accustomed to dropping the turnover match-up this season, but committed seven less than the Aggies Saturdaynight. But the Vandals were no match for the hosts in the rebounding column and led by Wendell McKines, the conference’s leading scorer and rebounder, New Mexico State out-rebounded Idaho 38-21.
McKines, who ranks among the top 20 rebounders in the NCAA, posted a game-high 10 rebounds and a game-high 26 points. It was one of the first times this season the Vandals were outsized. Five of the seven Aggies who posted minutes stand at least 6-feet-5-inches.
Verlin said his squad’s excessive fouling and the Aggies’ ability to convert almost 72 percent of their free throws were huge components in the loss.
“We were in serious foul trouble in the second half — just about every guy out there had four fouls — so we went to the zone and the zone was working to get them to miss shots, but we couldn’t rebound out of it,” Verlin said.
Four Vandals had four fouls, two more committed three.
Idaho looked to find a way back into the game before two Kyle Barone free throws made it a one-possession game, with the Aggies leading 69-66. The Vandals though, committed five fouls in the game’s final four minutes while McKines and Tyrone Watson came up huge combining for six rebounds and eight points.
Four Vandals scored in double digits but none more than 15 points. Freshman Connor Hill was 0-5 in Ruston but led Idaho with 12 points off of a 4-8 shooting night. Deremy Geiger grabbed a team-high four rebounds, a statistic uncharacteristic of an Idaho team led by Barone, who averages 7.7 rebounds per game.
“I thought we did some really, really good things tonight, we’ve just got to be able to sustain it and do it for a longer period of time,” Verlin said. “What we’ve got to do is get back home, get healthy, get rested and play a good Utah State team next Saturday.”
Men’s basketball returns to Moscow Saturday for a showdown with WAC defending champion Utah State. Tipoff is at 8:05 p.m. in the Cowan Spectrum and the Aggies seek revenge from last season’s loss to the Vandals, when Idaho handed Utah State its only conference loss of the 2010-2011 season.