CHENEY, Wash. - Forget the missed free throws. Forget the gaudy shooting percentages by the opposition. Forget the road woes.
Sunday afternoon the Idaho Vandals got it all right in a 52-50 victory over Eastern Washington at Reese Court. The only blight on the boxscore would be the 21 turnovers but even those could be, momentarily anyway, forgotten by coach Leonard Perry.
"Our kids executed tremendously down the stretch defensively," said Perry after the Vandals improved to 3-9 by winning their first road game of the season. "We really defended well. We rebounded the basketball well."
Every stop and every rebound was much needed as the Vandals broke a 47-47 tie with Anton Lyons' two free throws with 22.6 seconds remaining. A long 3 went awry for the Eagles on their next trip downcourt and, after a scramble for the rebound sent it scooting out of bounds, the Vandals regained possession with 10.1 seconds remaining.
Tanoris Shepard was fouled as he brought the ball downcourt. He converted just one of the two bonus attempts to keep a glimmer of hope alive in the Eagles with only three points, 50-47, separating the teams. But, another missed 3 attempt by Eastern coupled with a Lyons' rebound and the Vandals were close to building a lead that would survive any 3-point attempts launched in the final ticks.
Lyons, who had a career night with 18 points of 60 percent field goal (6-of-10) and flawless free throw (six-of-six) shooting, drilled both free shots and the 52-47 lead was just enough to make Marc Axton's 3-point buzzer beater all but meaningless.
"I give our kids all the credit," Perry said. "Finally we're starting to see some of the things we recruited.
"It was a huge win for our kids in a lot of ways. For our kids to stick together and show so much character, I'm proud of them."
The 47-47 tie was the 13th and final tie of a game that went back-and-forth from the early minutes until the final buzzer. The defensive mindedness of both coaches was evident early on as neither team could find a shooting rhythm. At halftime, only three Vandals - Lyons, Shepard and Dandrick Jones - had scored as EWU scratched out a 24-23 edge.
In the second half, though, contributors emerged from every corner. From Dillon Higdon's key 3-pointer with 5:45 to play to the relentless rebounding of Lionel Davis, the Vandals came up with answers for every Eastern challenge.
"We came in here against a gutsy, hard-playing Eastern team," Perry said. "Our kids executed. I'm proud of them."
Lyons' 18 points were the best of the game. Shepard finished with 14 and Jones had 13 as the Vandals displayed another balanced scoring attach. Davis had 12 of UI's 27 rebounds in a battle the Vandals won by three.
The Vandals return to the Cowan Spectrum Thursday for their first full weekend of Big West action. They take on Cal Poly at 7 p.m. as they try to stay atop the Big West standings after their league-opening victory over Utah State on Dec. 23.
