Medlin, Aggies drop Vandals

A showcase performance from sophomore Preston Medlin and nearly flawless second half from Utah State proved too much for the visiting Idaho Vandals, who let a 15-point lead slip and fell 67-50 to the Aggies Friday at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan.
A tale of two halves saw the unsuspecting Vandals build a 15-point first-half lead on the WAC’s, and one of the nation’s, most hostile home court. Utah State’s Medlin was perfect from the field in the second and the Aggies shot 75 percent in the game’s final 20 to send a red-hot Idaho team home with its first loss since Feb. 2.
Idaho has yet to win in Logan under coach and former Aggie assistant Don Verlin, and until the second half everything indicated the Vandals, who led for 24 consecutive minutes, would pull out a win.
Medlin’s momentum-changing 3-pointer gave Utah State a two-point lead in the second half. Deremy Geiger found Kyle Barone for a game-tying layup but the Vandals couldn’t overcome the 20-5 Aggie run that began with four minutes remaining in the first half while Idaho went scoreless.
“What I challenged them to do was let’s make sure we get that one half out of the way and let’s play the next five games like we played the last five games,” Verlin said. “Let’s find a way to make sure we don’t let one half of basketball to take away from the things we’ve done.”
Medlin’s second half may have been one of the best in college basketball this season and the Carollton, Texas, native transformed senior night into “Preston Night” almost immediately. A 27-point second half helped Medlin to a career-high 32 points and the sophomore’s immaculate 3-point game led to a 5-5 second half performance from beyond the arc.
“We made a few mistakes on our defensive coverages, and boom, they get ahead, they get the momentum and with this crowd, we just couldn’t get them slowed down,” Verlin said.
The Aggies upped their field goal percentage by almost 50 percent in the second half after shooting just 28 percent and going 9 of 32 in the first. Idaho shot 36 percent from the field and was a dismal 53 percent from the free-throw line.
In fact, the final box score reflected Idaho’s shortcomings. The Aggies beat Idaho in every major category, including offensive and defensive rebounds, assists, turnovers, 3-point percentage and blocks.
“You can’t give a good team like that 75 percent,” Verlin said. “You look at the stats and they dominated us in every phase of the game tonight.”
Medlin’s 32-point performance included eight rebounds, five assists and one turnover. Brockeith Pane ended his home career in Logan with 12 points, seven assists and eight rebounds.
Utah State held Kyle Barone, the conference’s back-to-back player of the week, to a 2 of 9 shooting performance that saw the junior score only six points. Geiger, an ex-Aggie, tallied nine points in the first half and concluded with 13.
If Medlin’s unparalleled shooting night wasn’t enough, Idaho faced the wrath of 10,178 Aggie fans in Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Utah State leads the WAC with an average 8,079 attendees per game.
Idaho (16-12, 7-5 WAC) remains No. 3 in the WAC and faces a crucial test Thursday at Hawaii.
“It’s going to be the biggest game,” Verlin said. “It’s going to hold all the tiebreakers. We’ve got to get back home tomorrow, get back to work on the practice court and finish up how we’ve been playing in the month of February.”
If the Warriors beat La. Tech Saturday, they move to 7-5 in the WAC and climb ahead of Idaho. The Warriors would get the tiebreaker in this situation because of their win in Moscow earlier this season. The Vandals, though, will clinch the third or fourth seed at the 2012 WAC Tournament with one win in their final two games against Hawaii and San Jose State.

About the Author

Theo Lawson Vandal Nation blog manager Sophomore in journalism Can be reached at [email protected]

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