SEATTLE - Keoni Watson scored 19 points, but a strong second-half by the No. 13 Washington Huskies proved too much for the University of Idaho men's basketball team as the Vandals fell 87-66 at the Bank of America Arena.
The Vandals (1-5) stayed close throughout the first half, holding the lead twice and building a three-point advantage on four occasions. Washington (6-0) scored 49 points in the second half to build a large advantage after leading by just nine at halftime.
"I'm really proud of the effort we displayed in what we knew coming in was going to be a really tough game," Idaho coach George Pfeifer said. "We felt we really had to answer the bell in the first five minutes and we got after it defensively right from the start. We had a really tough time keeping them off the rebounds. Some of that comes from our lack of size, but it also comes from having someone in the right spot blocking out on every shot."
Washington jumped out to an early 7-0 lead before Mario Mackey broke a 0-for-4 Idaho shooting slump with a 3-pointer at the 16:00 mark. The Vandals cut the lead to 7-4 before Washington hit 3-pointers on its next three possessions to jump to a 16-8 lead with 14:18 remaining in the half. It was then Idaho's turn to hit three consecutive 3-pointers, getting back-to-back makes from Watson and another from Mackey at the 12:37 mark that gave the Vandals their first lead of the contest at 17-16. The Vandals later pushed ahead by three at 21-18 at the 10:22 mark, an advantage they would garner on three more occasions. The final three point margin came at 27-24 with 8:08 remaining before an Idaho scoreless streak of 7:22 let the Huskies build a 36-27 lead. Idaho finally broke the cold streak with a basket with 46 seconds remaining and Washington scored the final basket of the half to take a 38-29 lead into halftime.
Idaho shot 10-of-25 (.400) in the half and was 4-of-7 (.571) from the 3-point line after beginning the game hitting its first four 3-pointers. Washington shot 17 more field goals in the first half thanks to 12 offensive rebounds and 11 Idaho turnovers.
The Huskies extended their lead to 43-29 after scoring the first five points of the second half. A steady streak of Washington offense stretched the Idaho deficit to 19 at 62-43 with 10:15 remaining in the contest. The Vandals cut the lead to 16 points at 63-47 before the Huskies moved ahead by 20 points at 67-47 at the 7:46 mark. The Huskies later grabbed their biggest lead of the contest at 76-52 but Idaho was able to cut the lead to 17 on two occasions. Washington kept the lead near 20 points the remainder of the game before eventually earning the 21 point victory.
"We didn't back down," Pfeifer said. "We played hard all the way until the end. We have done that now on multiple occasions, but we haven't always played smart. We had some unfortunate lapses. When you play the 13th ranked team in the country, every time you have a lapse it becomes a glaring moment."
Idaho finished the game shooting 23-of-55 (.418) from the floor and 9-of-20 (.450) from beyond the 3-point arc. Mackey finished with 15 points and grabbed two steals while Clyde Johnson scored nine points and added three assists.
Washington was lead by Quincy Pondexter with 25 points and eight rebounds. Ryan Appleby was the other Washington players in double figures with 11 points and Jon Brockman scored seven points and grabbed 14 rebounds.
The Vandals committed 20 turnovers and were outrebounded 50-26. The second chance points continued to haunt Idaho as the Vandals gave up 23 second chance points and scored only four.
The Vandals return home Saturday (Dec. 2) to take on Southern Utah at 7:05 p.m. at the Cowan Spectrum.
