Madison leads Vandals past Seattle Pacific in exhibition

MOSCOW - As is often the case in these games, there were plenty of bright spots and equal learning points in a 77-71 Idaho men's basketball exhibition victory over Seattle Pacific on Saturday.

Bright spots like 10 of 18 (.556) 3-point shooting, a 36-26 rebounding margin and a 23 of 28 (.821) free throw clip stood out for the Vandals, but so did 14 turnovers, 10 second-chance points allowed and a lapse that saw a 20-point lead trimmed to five.

Weighing the positives, the negatives and the game situations, Idaho coach Don Verlin said it was almost exactly what he had hoped to achieve against a strong NCAA Division II team that had knocked off three Division I opponents in its last four tries, notably No. 16 Arizona last season during exhibition play.

"I thought it played out, believe it or not, about perfect for us," Verlin said. "We did get some late-game situations where he had to break to the ball, we had to execute our press-breaker, we had to have some guys knock down some free throws and get some good defensive stops."

Idaho's Stephen Madison finished with a game-high 28 points. Former Post Falls High standout Connor Hill added 11 points in 21 minutes.

Idaho hosts Central Washington in an exhibition game Friday. The Vandals open their regular season with Wright State on Nov. 9 at Memorial Gym.