Vandals stumble in home loss to Northern Arizona
MOSCOW — Tipping off some 40 hours after a thrilling victory, the Idaho Vandals were unable to back it up Saturday afternoon. Idaho led by as much as 11 points in the first half, but Northern Arizona took the lead early in the second half and went on to beat the Vandals 80-72 in Big Sky Conference men’s basketball before 1,979 at ICCU Arena.
"Credit Northern Arizona, they played like the experienced team that they are,” Idaho coach Alex Pribble said on the Vandals' postgame radio show. “But we need to have consistency on defense; we have to find a way to come up with some stops.”
Idaho (9-12, 4-4) led 41-37 at halftime, but NAU (13-8, 4-4) opened the second half with a 10-2 run and never trailed again.
The Lumberjacks led by eight with just under 5 minutes left.
A 3-pointer by Kolton Mitchell, the former Lake City High star whose 3 at the buzzer beat league-leading Northern Colorado on Thursday night, pulled Idaho within 71-68 with 1 minute left.
But Trenton McLaughlin of NAU, the Big Sky’s leading scorer who had had a quiet afternoon to that point, drilled a deep 3 to put the Lumberjacks up 74-68 with 37.4 seconds left.
Mitchell was fouled on a 3, and hit 2 of 3 free throws with 30.2 left. But the Vandals came no closer than four the rest of the way.
Jack Payne scored 13 of his 20 points in the first half for Idaho. Julius Mims, the former North Idaho College standout, added 16 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots. Mitchell totaled 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Diego Campisano hit 5 of 7 3-pointers led NAU with 19 points. Carson Towt added 16 points and 18 rebounds. McLaughlin finished with 15 points.
“Campisano stepped up, hit some shots early and then he became a threat the rest of the night,” Pribble said. “It looked like a more-experienced group going up against our lack of experience.”
Idaho plays at Weber State on Thursday.
N. ARIZONA 80, IDAHO 72
N. ARIZONA (13-8)
Campisano 6-9 2-2 19, Towt 6-12 4-7 16, Bowser 3-8 0-0 7, Jackson 1-6 2-2 4, McLaughlin 5-15 2-3 15, Abelman 2-5 4-4 9, Rickwood-Pitt 2-3 2-2 7, Fort 1-3 0-0 3, Baker 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-62 16-20 80.
IDAHO (9-12)
Mims 8-8 0-2 16, Mrus 2-6 2-4 8, Gonzalez 1-7 2-2 5, Mitchell 4-7 5-6 15, Payne 7-14 4-5 20, Rose 0-5 0-0 0, Anderson 1-2 0-0 2, Linhardt 1-2 0-0 3, Brickner 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 25-53 14-21 72.
Halftime_Idaho 41-37. 3-Point Goals_N. Arizona 12-28 (Campisano 5-7, McLaughlin 3-8, Fort 1-1, Rickwood-Pitt 1-1, Abelman 1-4, Bowser 1-5, Baker 0-1, Jackson 0-1), Idaho 8-24 (Mitchell 2-4, Mrus 2-4, Payne 2-6, Linhardt 1-2, Gonzalez 1-4, Anderson 0-1, Brickner 0-1, Rose 0-2). Rebounds_N. Arizona 34 (Towt 18), Idaho 29 (Mitchell 8). Assists_N. Arizona 19 (Jackson 7), Idaho 14 (Mitchell 7). Total Fouls_N. Arizona 16, Idaho 17. A_1,979 (4,200).