Landon Tatum, Deremy Geiger and Djim Bandoumel were honored prior to tipoff, but the efforts of junior Kyle Barone and sophomore Stephen Madison helped send Idaho’s upperclassmen out on top after the Vandals’ 77-68 Sears BracketBusters victory against Portland State Saturday in Cowan Spectrum.
Idaho’s three seniors saw their Cowan Spectrum careers conclude victoriously, but more importantly Idaho’s win streak reached five games and regardless of results in their final three contests, the Vandals will finish the season with a win percentage above .500.
A 9-0 run set the tone for a contest that was primarily dominated by the Vandals, with the exception of Portland State’s late attempt at a comeback. Idaho’s lead peaked at 19 points, but the Vikings put the brakes on the Vandal lead and cut it to six with less than 10 minutes to play.
That was as close as Portland State got, and a Geiger three relieved any stress built during the Vikings’ 9-2 run.
“That was a huge play in the game,” Tatum said. “They had all the momentum on their side. A 3-pointer in any game can just be a dagger … I think that just really helped us out.”The Vandals were on cruise control from there out, winning the battle of free throws that started early and forced Idaho to shoot 14 from the stripe within the final two minutes. Geiger and Tatum shot all but two of those, and along with Barone, converted 12 of 14 down the stretch.
“We played very well in the first half,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “When you shoot almost 70 percent in the first half, you hold them to 30 percent — I thought we were as efficient offensively as we’ve been in a long time. I was hoping we could put back-to-back defensive halves together. We didn’t defend it quite as well as we needed to.”
It was a game of career bests for the Vandals as Tatum and Madison posted their first ever double-doubles, Tatum with 10 points and 10 assists, the assists tie his career-high. Madison pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and tallied 15 points.
Barone’s 25 points are a career-high, and 19 were scored in the first half. The junior was two rebounds shy of what would’ve been his ninth double-double this season. His 10-11 shooting mark ties the best shooting percentage in Idaho single-game history.
Collectively, the Vandals shot 67.9 percent from the field, the best they have all season against a Division I opponent. They’re also 11-0 this season when shooting 50 percent or better.
Verlin is now a perfect 4-0 on senior night.
“What a great crowd for our seniors tonight,” Verlin said. “I was extremely excited with the attendance we had tonight, and what a great way to send off three wonderful guys. I couldn’t be happier for our seniors.”
Idaho has a week to rest and prepare for a crucial WAC match-up Friday against Verlin’s former Utah State Aggies. The conference’s traditional powerhouse has experienced somewhat of an off season and sits behind Hawaii in the WAC standings at 14-14, 5-6. Utah State has lost eight of its last 13.
Theo Lawson can be reached at [email protected]