(Big Sky Conference | Courtesy Photo)
The Idaho men’s basketball team earned a quarterfinal victory at the Big Sky Conference tournament Thursday with a 77-73 win over rival Eastern Washington.
The No. 3 ranked Vandals held the Eagles to 36 points in the second half to secure a berth in the tournament semifinals.
“We executed our game plan,” said Idaho head coach Don Verlin. “We tried to pound it down low all night long, I thought we did a good job with that.”
Junior point guard Pat Ingram provided consecutive baskets for Idaho to give the Vandals a 26-20 lead midway through the first half.
After the teams exchanged scores, sophomore guard Victor Sanders connected on a deep 3-pointer from the right side of the perimeter to extend Idaho’s lead to ten points.
Idaho connected on 6 of 8 shots in the closing seconds of the period to enter halftime with a 41-37 advantage.
Sanders would finish the half with 12 points. Redshirt freshman power forward Nate Sherwood contributed 11, while junior guard Perrion Callandret snagged five rebounds.
Senior guard Austin McBroom led the Eagles with 11 first half points. Senior forward Venky Jois provided another 11 for Eastern Washington in the first twenty minutes of play.
Idaho shot 51.7 percent from the field in the first half, compared to 37 percent by Eastern Washington. The Vandals outrebounded the Eagles 22-13 during this span.
“Really happy for our guys, what a great effort,” Verlin said. “We were who we are, we defended our tails off and we battled.”
The Vandals capitalized on a strong offensive push down the stretch to secure the win.
Sherwood finished as the Vandals leading scorer with 19 points. Sanders provided 17 points, while Ingram finished with 12 points and three rebounds.
Junior forward Felix Von Hofe led the Eagles with 17 points, while Jois notched a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Idaho finished the game shooting 30-61 from the field, while Eastern Washington went 21-59.
The Vandals relied on 44 points in the paint to secure the victory, while Eastern Washington scored 18 points in the key.
The Vandals advance to the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference tournament. The team will face Montana at 8:05 p.m. Friday in Reno.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom