With 10 seconds left in the game, sophomore guard Sekou Wiggs hit his seventh 3-pointer of the season to send the Idaho men’s basketball team into overtime against Southern Utah.
It looked as though Idaho might overcome a dismal 18.2 shooting percent from the field halfway through the second period, but the Thunderbirds countered barely pulling out the 79-77 win in overtime.
“We had a lot of open shots, we just didn’t make them,” Verlin said. “A lot in and out, around the rim, ball go in and out, I mean you hate to blame it on that, but it seemed like there was a lid on the basket tonight.”
The game started with some quick scoring as Idaho led 12-10 just five minutes into the game. From there, Idaho led by as many as 10 points in the first half before Southern Utah closed it to three heading into halftime.
Then, the Vandals came out flat in the second half. The Thunderbirds started the second half with a 14-4 run and Idaho’s 3-point lead fell to an 11-point deficit with nine minutes remaining in the game.
“We just didn’t do a very good job in our defensive execution,” Verlin said of SUU’s run in the second half. “I didn’t think we were playing quite hard enough, kind of let them get going. They had a couple guys step up, make some shots, but I didn’t think we had the energy we needed.”
Idaho found its energy again in the latter part of the half. A Connor Hill 3-pointer brought Idaho within two points of SUU with 1:48 left in the game. The Vandals battled into overtime where they grabbed a 73-70 lead, but a Travon Langston dunk with 38 second left in overtime gave SUU its final lead of the game.
“A good week for Southern Utah, obviously a tough one for our guys in the locker room because they battled back,” Verlin said. “We didn’t start the second half well, but then we started battling, we found a way to get it into overtime and have the lead in overtime. Just didn’t find a way to finish it and I feel awful for our guys.”
Wiggs led Idaho with 19 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the free-throw line. Hill, senior guard Mike Scott and senior forward Bira Seck also finished in double-digit scoring for the Vandals. Seck led Idaho with 11 rebounds.
The loss dropped the Vandals to 11-14 on the season and 6-8 in the Big Sky. Idaho is currently at seventh place in the standings — one spot ahead of cutoff mark for making the conference tournament.
“I challenged our guys in the locker room, I said, ‘Now our character is going to show,'” Verlin said. “There’s a lot of basketball to be played, there’s four games left, we have Senior Week coming up for three very good seniors. And like I told them, when we move to next week, it’s a week we need to celebrate our seniors and show people how hard we play and how much this season means to us.”
Idaho plays Montana Thursday in Memorial Gym and Montana State Saturday for Senior Day. The Vandals have four games left on the schedule before postseason play.
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]