Vandal men suffer third straight loss
PORTLAND - Turnovers and missed free throws haunted the Idaho Vandals throughout the night as Portland State won 85-73 in their Big Sky Conference men's basketball matchup at The Stott Center.
The loss, for third straight for the Vandals (7-9, 2-3 Big Sky), came despite a double-double by Mike Scott (15 points and 10 assists) and with former Post Falls High standout Connor Hill spending a large portion of the game in foul trouble.
DaShaun Wiggins and former North Idaho College standout Braxton Tucker each scored 19 points for Portland State (9-7, 3-3).
Idaho coach Don Verlin gave a large portion of the credit to Portland State, which after trailing early, fended off repeated challenges by the Vandals in the second half.
"They made some good plays; they're balanced," Verlin said. "We just couldn't make the plays and get the stops when we needed to. Then, we were sloppy with the ball."
In particular, Verlin wasn't happy with the interior play of the Vandals, who gathered only three offensive rebounds and who allowed PSU's post players to dominate the scoring as well.
"They really hurt us on our interior defense," he said. "We just couldn't guard those guys off the bounce."
Sekou Wiggs added 12 points and Bira Seck had 10. Scott's eight rebounds were a game-high for the Vandals.
Idaho returns home to the Cowan Spectrum on Thursday night to continue Big Sky action against North Dakota.
IDAHO (7-9)
Wiggs 5-10 2-5 12, Hill 3-10 0-0 8, M. Scott 6-13 0-0 15, Seck 3-4 4-4 10, Mpawe 3-5 1-3 7, Callandret 3-6 0-0 9, Sanders 1-4 0-0 3, Mkrtychyan 2-3 2-4 6, George 0-0 0-0 0, Egbert 0-0 1-2 1, J. Scott 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 27-56 10-18 73.
PORTLAND ST. (9-7)
Winston 6-11 0-0 14, White 0-5 2-5 2, Bamba 4-6 4-6 12, Tucker 9-16 1-1 19, Wiggins 4-11 8-9 19, Gengler 2-6 4-4 9, Spickerman 3-3 0-0 6, Douglas 0-4 4-4 4. Totals 28-62 23-29 85.
Halftime_Portland St. 37-31. 3-Point Goals_Idaho 9-21 (Callandret 3-4, M. Scott 3-7, Hill 2-7, Sanders 1-2, Wiggs 0-1), Portland St. 6-22 (Wiggins 3-7, Winston 2-6, Gengler 1-4, Douglas 0-1, Bamba 0-1, White 0-3). Fouled Out_Hill. Rebounds_Idaho 35 (M. Scott 8), Portland St. 34 (Tucker 7). Assists_Idaho 17 (M. Scott 10), Portland St. 19 (Winston 7). Total Fouls_Idaho 24, Portland St. 19. A_978.