Late foul costs Vandals in home loss to N. Mexico St.
MOSCOW - The Idaho men's basketball team capped a frantic rally to erase a 17-point hole and tie New Mexico State with 3.5 seconds left, but a foul on the ensuing inbounds doomed the Vandals in a 71-70 loss on Saturday night at the Cowan Spectrum.
Idaho (6-9, 2-3 Western Athletic Conference) overcame a sluggish first half that saw New Mexico State (10-8, 4-2 WAC) take a 42-27 lead at the break - the Vandals' largest halftime deficit of the season - but Idaho rallied on 60 percent overall and 55.6 3-point shooting in the second half.
"For whatever reason, hung over from the Utah State or Denver games or whatever the case may be, we didn't come out with fire against the team picked to win our league," Idaho coach Don Verlin said about the first half performance. "We hung with our game plan and we were able to fight a little bit better in the second half."
Idaho didn't go on a huge scoring run to cut New Mexico State's big lead, but rather simply chipped away throughout the second half. A Stephen Madison 3-pointer with 43 seconds to play tied the game at 68-68, but the Aggies got a layup from Bandja Sy on the next possession to take a two-point lead.
Vandal senior Kyle Barone was fouled with 3.5 seconds to go and he calmly drained both free throws to knot the game back up at 70-70. Idaho junior Marcus Bell gambled on a steal on the ensuing inbounds and was whistled for a reach-in foul with 2.7 seconds left to send New Mexico State's Daniel Mullings to the line for a pair of free throws. He missed the first, but made the second to give the Aggies the win.
"I thought we competed, had some guys step up and make some shots and we executed pretty well down the stretch to come back from what felt like a billion down," Verlin said. "There's some bright things, but the bottom line is we've got to learn to finish games. We've had three games in a row with chances to win and we haven't gotten any of them."
Former Post Falls High star Connor Hill scored 17 points for the Vandals, who play at Louisiana Tech on Thursday.
NEW MEXICO ST. (10-8)
Bhullar 5-9 6-8 16, Sy 6-10 2-4 14, Ross-Miller 5-10 4-5 16, Mullings 2-9 3-4 8, Watson 4-8 1-2 9, Barry 0-1 0-0 0, Aronis 0-1 0-0 0, de Rouen 1-2 0-0 3, Buovac 0-0 0-0 0, Dixon 2-2 1-2 5. Totals 25-52 17-25 71.
IDAHO (6-9)
Harris Jr. 4-6 2-2 11, C. Hill 6-14 2-2 17, McChristian 3-4 0-0 7, Barone 6-14 6-6 18, Madison 4-6 2-3 11, Douglas 0-0 0-0 0, Habeeb 2-3 2-2 6, Bell 0-0 0-0 0, Kammerer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-48 14-15 70.
Halftime_New Mexico St. 42-27. 3-Point Goals_New Mexico St. 4-11 (Ross-Miller 2-5, de Rouen 1-1, Mullings 1-2, Sy 0-1, Aronis 0-1, Watson 0-1), Idaho 6-14 (C. Hill 3-9, McChristian 1-1, Madison 1-1, Harris Jr. 1-2, Habeeb 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_New Mexico St. 25 (Sy 7), Idaho 29 (Barone 10). Assists_New Mexico St. 8 (Watson 3), Idaho 8 (C. Hill, Madison, McChristian 2). Total Fouls_New Mexico St. 13, Idaho 18. A_998.