Idaho seems to struggle with 69 in recent weeks.
For the third game straight, the Vandals conceded 69 points to their opponents, falling to Portland State 69-53 on the road.
Sacramento State bested the Vandals 69-48 a few days prior, then Montana 69-51 January 19 in the Cowan Spectrum.
“They got to the offensive glass there in the first half,” head coach Don Verlin said in a news release. “That was the key, and it was mainly their guards. I thought Scott Blakney did a good job keeping their big guy off the glass, but it was their guards.”
Sophomore forward Scott Blakney goes up for a shot against a University of Montana defender in Cowan Spectrum.
Idaho (4-15, BSC 1-7) opened the first few minutes of the contest with a strong offensive performance. The teams stayed neck-in-neck, thanks to a number of threes from junior guard Trevon Allen early in the first half. Freshman Khadim Samb leveled the score at 18 with just over 11 minutes until the break. From there, the Vikings powered up and left the Vandals behind.
Portland State (8-11, BSC 3-5) went on a 14-0 run over nearly seven minutes to build themselves a 32-18 advantage with 4:47 left to play.
Freshman guard Cameron Tyson notched a 3-pointer to snap the streak, but the opponents had established too large of a lead for Idaho to bounce back from.
Idaho headed into the half down 40-23.
The second half was much of the same for the Vandals. Idaho came out strong, managing to cut the Viking lead to 14 with several minutes into the second half. But once again, the strong start didn’t last long and Idaho continued to slip behind. Despite outscoring Portland State 30-29 in the second half, the home team took the game 69-48.
Allen and sophomore forward Scott Blakney contributed 12 points for the Vandals. Allen also tacked on three rebounds and five assists.
Idaho finished the contest shooting 38.2 percent (21-of-55) from field goal range and over 26 percent (6-of-23) from the three.
On the other side of the ball, the Vikings shot 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the floor and 34.6 percent (9-of-26) from beyond the arc.
The Vikings won the rebounding battle 38-31, 24 of which came in the first half for Portland State.
Idaho will get a week off before hitting the hardwoods against Northern Arizona 7 p.m. Saturday in the Cowan Spectrum.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]