On Feb. 10, the Idaho men’s basketball team looked to get their first win in Cheney, Washington, since Feb. 13, 2020.
The Vandals took on the 16-8 (9-1) Eastern Washington Eagles in a closely fought battle, but ultimately fell 87-79.
Head Coach Alex Pribble returned to Reese Court for the first time since being an assistant coach with the Eagles from 2013-2015.
“Coming back is special,” he said. “I look up and see the 2015 banner up there, and that was a great group of young men, so yeah, great memories, important time in my life, but I’m really happy to be a Vandal now.”
From the tip of this game, it was an offensive show. Junior Cedrick Coward got the game started with a layup and junior forward Juice Mims answered right back with a layup of his own to tie it up. The Vandals got their first lead on the next possession when junior guard Quinn Denker knocked down the game’s first three-pointer to give the Vandals a 5-4 lead over the Eagles.
From there, the game went back and forth, each team taking the lead and giving it away until Eastern created some separation. With the Vandals leading 22-21, the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to push their largest lead of the game to seven and forced the Vandals to respond. Idaho kept clawing back and closed the half strong.
With the Eagles up 40-34, senior guard D’Angelo Minnis hit a three-pointer to cut it to three. On the next defensive possession, junior forward Kyson Rose got a steal and passed to junior guard EJ Neal, where he laid the ball in as the buzzer went off, and the Vandals only trailed 40-39 at halftime.
Both teams shot lights out in the first half. The Eagles were slightly better than the Vandals, finishing the half 17-for-28 from the field, 2-for-8 from beyond the arc and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line. The Vandals went 16-for-32 from the field and 7-for-16 from the three-point line. Minnis led the Vandals with 13 points in the first half.
The second half began the same way as the first, with both teams going back and forth without any real separation between them. That was until the Eagles went on an 11-2 run and pushed their lead to 61-49. However, the Vandals never went away. Behind big minutes from Neal and Denker, the Vandals battled back to only be down 69-65.
A stop on the defensive end and a Rose three-pointer cut the Eagles’ lead to one. The Vandals battled the rest of the game, but the Eagles were too much as they defeated the Vandals 87-79 and completed the season sweep. Junior forward Ethan Price led all scorers with 22 points to guide the Eagles to victory.
Despite the loss, the Vandals had great offensive performances from several players, with four players in double figures. Neal led the Vandals with 20 points while Denker helped with 19 points and six assists, Coach Pribble was pleased with his leaders’ performances.
“It starts with those guys. They’re leaders. They make us go,” Pribble said. “They stayed with it for all 40 minutes during the runs, the highs and the lows. We’ll need them to stay with that moving forward. I’m proud of those guys.”
Neal, for the Vandals, hasn’t been a consistent scorer until the last couple of games. Pribble has liked what he has seen for Neal over the last two games.
“It’s nice to see EJ settle in,” he said. “I have talked about him as a competitor. He makes the hustle plays, the toughness plays, and games like that on the road. You need confident guys that are going to come in and be aggressive. I thought EJ did a fantastic job for us tonight.”
With the loss, the Vandals dropped to 9-15 (3-8). Despite the loss, Pribble thinks the team is making the moves to be better.
“It continues to be a process for us. I think we took steps in the right direction. But to win on the road in a place like this, you need consistent effort from everybody, and so there’s some important lessons for us to learn. We will keep building, and hopefully, this thing clicks at the right time,” he said.
The Vandals will return home for two huge games. First, Idaho will host Weber State 16-9 (7-5) on Thursday, Feb 15, at 6 p.m. Then, Saturday is round two of the battle for King Spud when they host Idaho State 11-14 (6-6). The Vandals will look to capture the King Spud Trophy and get back in the win column.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on X @JaydenBarfuss10