On Nov. 13, the Idaho Vandals’ men’s basketball team hosted a game against the Cal Poly Mustangs at the ICCU Arena where the Vandals were defeated 74-7. Following their 108-69 win against Lincoln the Vandals face their second loss of the season in another close game leaving then 2-2 for the season.
In the first half, the Vandals held the lead for a while then the Mustangs fought back after a lengthy run keeping the game close throughout. Both teams were not the most accurate with the Vandals shooting 36% from the field on 13-36 while the Mustangs shot 40% on 14-35.
Then from the three, the Vandals shot 31% on 5-16 while the Mustangs shot 32% on 6-19. The Mustangs did shoot overwhelmingly better than the Vandals from the line making four of five attempts while the Vandals only made one out of six shots. Cal Poly led by six in the end of the half with a score of 38-32.
In the second half, the game was still neck and neck until the final minute where the Mustangs broke away scoring seven straight ending the game at 83-74 and a Vandal loss. The Vandals improved their accuracy this half shooting 53% from the field and 33% from three but it still was not enough to keep up with the Mustangs.
The Mustangs shot a little worse from the field with 39% but improved from the three shooting 41%. The Mustangs also got the advantage on free throws shooting 14 of 18 while the Vandals only got 9 of 14.
Both teams were similar in second change points, points in the paint, points of turnovers, and fast break points but where the difference really changed the game was the bench points where Cal Poly outscored the Vandals 21-2. Additionally, the Vandals led the game in rebounding by three, but it was not enough to keep up with the steals where the Mustangs beat the Vandals 9-3.
Leading the Vandals this time was Miles Klapper who scored a career high 24 points and five rebounds. Miles shined the most in the second half where he scored 20 of his 24 points. Following him are two 19-point scorers in Kase Wynott who also got four rebounds and Kristan Gonzalez who got nine rebounds. These three combined for 62 of the Vandals 74 points this game.
Overall, the Vandals fought back constantly against Cal Poly but they could not keep up especially near the end where the Mustangs got seven straight for a nine-point victory. Both teams were decently accurate with Cal Poly heating up from three in the second half.
One of the biggest struggles for the Vandals is the bench scoring as the top three scorers this game accounted for 84% of the Vandals points all game. Beside that it was still a very close game where the Vandals were only down two with 40 seconds left.
The University of Idaho’s men’s basketball team will travel to Reno, Arizona to face Mountain West’s Nevada Wolf Pack on Wednesday, November 18th.