MOSCOW, Idaho - In the second half of its game against Cal State Northridge Thursday, the Idaho men's basketball team faced a tenacious defense, a prolonged offensive drought and a surreal string of unfortunate breaks.
The combination of these was too much for the Vandals to overcome, as they fell to the Matadors 59-54 at the Cowan Spectrum.
"I'm disappointed. We didn't get it done at the end of the game," coach Leonard Perry said. "I think we got good looks, we just didn't stick them in the second half."
Idaho (8-16, 6-7) had a chance to tie the game with a 3-pointer in the final minute, but Anton Lyons' shot from the baseline clanked off the rim and fell into the hands of Northridge guard Davin White, who secured a comeback win for Northridge (13-10, 10-4) with a free throw.
The Vandals led 36-27 at halftime yet shot .182 from the field in the second half, compared to the Matadors' .500. And for the game, the Matadors were 21-37 from the line while the Vandals were 11-16.
"It seemed like every time I shot I had Boylan's hand on my arm, but you can't complain about the officials," forward Dandrick Jones said. "We practice like that all the time. You have to go out there and play through it."
"We don't want to judge losses by that," guard Tanoris Shepard said. "There are going to be times when calls don't go our way. (Perry) taught us to play through that."
Jones led the Vandals with 21 points.
White, who made a habit out of pestering the Vandals on both ends of the court, scored a game-high 23 points and hit eight-of-11 free throw attempts.
"This is a difficult place to play. Not a lot of people win here," Northridge coach Bobby Braswell said. "We held them to 18 points in the second half and that was a good defensive effort for us."
Freshman point guard Jerod Haynes contributed seven assists for the Vandals before fouling out. Other than Jones, the only player to score in double figures was Shepard, who finished with 10 points.
"(Jones) is like the lone ranger out there. We need to give him some help," Shepard said. "And he's doing it while they're keying on him."
"I think Leonard's team plays harder than anybody in the conference," Braswell said.
