Idaho goes ice cold at Fresno
FRESNO, Calif. - The University of Idaho men's basketball team couldn't buy a bucket in the first half and its late rally came up short Thursday in a 65-55 loss to Fresno State in Western Athletic Conference play Thursday night.
Idaho (11-11, 4-4 WAC) shot just 28 percent in the first half and trailed by as many as 17 points before the break and struggled to slow down Fresno State (10-14, 2-6), which shot 63.6 percent from the floor in the first half and 50 percent in the game.
"I thought we had a number of very good looks early that we weren't able to finish, and then our basketball team let its offense affect its defense," Idaho coach Don Verlin said. "We just gave them too high a percentage in the first half."
Junior Mansa Habeeb scored a career-high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting for Idaho. Kyle Barone led Idaho with 14 points, as well as eight rebounds. Senior forward Djim Bandoumel led all players with a career-high 11 rebounds.
Jerry Brown had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Fresno State, and Tyler Johnson added a game-high 17 points, along with eight rebounds.
The Bulldogs used a 17-4 run midway through the first half to break open a 15-11 game and take a 32-15 lead at the 1:52 mark of the first. Idaho shot just 2-of-9 during the run and turned the ball over three times during the run, while Fresno State hit seven of its nine attempts over the same span.
A buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Garrett Johnson gave the Bulldogs a 36-20 halftime lead and sent the Vandals into the break facing their second-largest halftime deficit of the year.
The Vandals opened the second half with a 9-2 run, then added a 12-4 stretch midway through the half, capped by a Deremy Geiger 3-point play that pulled Idaho back within 50-45 with 7:20 remaining.
"In the second half, I thought we played pretty good basketball for a long period of time and get it back to five, almost climb the whole hill and then don't get an offensive rebound and they get an and-one," Verlin said. "We were kind of back in control of that game, but the hole was so big."
Idaho travels to first-place Nevada (19-3, 8-0) on Saturday.
IDAHO (11-11)
Bandoumel 2-6 3-4 7, Madison 0-2 0-0 0, Barone 6-12 2-5 14, Tatum 2-6 0-0 4, Geiger 4-9 1-1 12, Habeeb 4-6 4-6 12, Hill 2-6 0-0 6, Borton 0-5 0-0 0, Kammerer 0-0 0-0 0, Faines 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-52 10-16 55.
FRESNO ST. (10-14)
J. Brown 6-6 2-3 14, T. Johnson 6-11 4-9 17, Wills 0-4 4-6 4, Olekaibe 2-9 2-4 7, Shepp 1-3 3-5 5, G. Johnson 3-4 0-0 9, Foster 4-7 1-1 9. Totals 22-44 16-28 65.
Halftime_Fresno St. 36-20. 3-Point Goals_Idaho 5-20 (Geiger 3-8, Hill 2-5, Tatum 0-1, Madison 0-1, Habeeb 0-2, Borton 0-3), Fresno St. 5-17 (G. Johnson 3-4, T. Johnson 1-4, Olekaibe 1-7, Foster 0-1, Wills 0-1). Fouled Out_Foster, Madison, Tatum. Rebounds_Idaho 33 (Bandoumel 11), Fresno St. 34 (J. Brown 10). Assists_Idaho 11 (Tatum 4), Fresno St. 14 (Shepp 5). Total Fouls_Idaho 26, Fresno St. 18. A_6,080.