NORTHRIDGE. Calif. - The University of Idaho Vandals did everything they needed to beat Cal State Northridge Thursday night. Almost.
The Vandals faltered down the stretch with a scoreless 2:24 to end the game to allow the Matadors to extend their win streak to five with the 67-63 victory at the Matadome. As the Vandals suddenly lost their steam, Cal State Northridge was finding its stride in overcoming what had been an eight-point deficit as Idaho lost for the first time in Big West action.
UI dropped to 5-10, 3-1, while Northridge is 7-7, 5-1.
"Our kids did everything we needed to do to win this game," UI coach Leonard Perry said. "Our kids gave it all they had."
Anton Lyons and Tanoris Shepard matched 19-point efforts, while Lionel Davis dropped in 11. Lyons' 15 rebounds were a major factor in UI's 45-30 domination of the boards. And every effort was desperately needed as the Vandals had to make do largely without the services of leading scorer and rebounder Dandrick Jones, who was plagued by fouls from the outset.
The Vandals, by virtue of a Shepard 3-pointer at the buzzer, led 36-34 at the half. They carried that momentum into the second half where, even with Jones gone at the 14:52 mark, they continually solved Northridge's 1-3-1 zone to build leads of eight points three times.
The Matadors tied the game - for the 10th time - with 3:52 to go on Jonathan Heard's jumper. Shepard put the Vandals back on top, 63-61, with 2:24 to play but that would be the last time the Vandals would score.
After a Northridge turnover, Shepard had three successive misses before the Matadors grabbed a rebound. Ian Boylan was fouled on a fast break attempt with :40 to play. He made only one with the rebound on the second ricocheted out-of-bounds off a Northridge player. Idaho, however, turned the ball over on the in-bounds pass and Boylan broke free for a layup. He was fouled in the process and the resulting three-point play gave CSN a 65-63 lead with :25 to go.
The Vandals launched two more shots but never hit the mark and Heard provided the final margin with two free throws with seven seconds remaining.
"We defended them really well in the second half," Perry said. "But give Northridge credit. They came storming back and got it done."
The Vandals travel to the University of the Pacific to take on the Tigers, undefeated in league play, Saturday night.
