The last time the Vandals and Bengals were able to revive the old Big Sky rivalry between the two it ended up being a Vandal victory, all the way back in 2004.
Then Idaho State reeled off five straight victories before the rivalry went back in to a hiatus in 2008.
The revival of the rivalry for the foreseeable future this time around began the same way – with a Vandal victory.
Idaho received a hot-streak of shooting from sophomore guard Connor Hill in the second half to lift Idaho over Idaho State 75-69 in Pocatello Saturday afternoon. The win moves Idaho to 10-16, with three conference games remaining before the conference tournament.
“We played extremely hard,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “We had 38 missed shots and we got 21 of them back, that just shows how hard we were working.”
That’s right, Idaho collected 21 offensive boards, and scored an obscene 34 second-chance points off of them. In comparison, Idaho State collected just 23 boards overall, only 15 defensive boards off 38 Idaho misses.
The dominance on the boards, along with only turning the ball over 11 times, made up for Idaho’s 24-for-62 shooting performance on the night. Exactly half of Idaho’s shot attempts came from beyond the arc, going 10-of-31 from downtown. Hill and Stephen Madison accounted for 22 of those attempts.
It was a relatively quiet night for Kyle Barone, only scoring 12, but collected 7 of Idaho’s 21 offensive rebounds. He was also a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
The game also showed some resolve from Idaho late in the second half, being able to take a one-possession game and close it out.
Idaho held a one point lead with both 4:31 and 2:51 remaining in the game, before Idaho went on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to take control of the game. Connor Hill gave Idaho 15 second half points, with Madison chipping in with 13 second half points.
Both Verlin and Idaho State coach Bill Evans said there will be a return trip to Moscow from Idaho State next season, which means the rivalry should conceivably be played every year from here on out. Idaho will bring its basketball program in to the Big Sky in 2014-15.
While the win will have little to no bearing on the season, it certainly doesn’t hurt for Idaho to get a road win before heading to Texas for pivotal conference road match-ups with UT-San Antonio and Texas State. Idaho is still fighting for the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, meaning it would avoid the first-round games. Texas State sits two games behind Idaho at the No. 7 seed, but with a win over Idaho would have the tie-breaker should the teams end up with the same conference record.
Kris Boatman
As both a Vandal & Bengal alum, I was glad to attend this game, & am very excited that these two great Idaho universities are renewing their rivalry for the foreseeable future. Vandal-Bengal games are almost always exciting, hard fought games in every sport, & will add great publicity in SE Idaho for the University of Idaho, as well as for Idaho State University in North Idaho. This is great news for both schools, which as history shows are sibling universities. Go Vandals & Go Bengals!