BOISE, Idaho - The University of Idaho men's basketball team suffered a 86-63 loss at Boise State University Wednesday night.
The loss was Idaho's (3-20, 1-10) sixth straight and was the 12th consecutive victory for Boise State (12-10, 6-5).
The Vandals were hurt by poor shooting, another long scoring drought, and a 55-26 deficit in rebounding.
"We weren't good on the boards," Idaho coach George Pfeifer said. ?"It was really bad. It wouldn't have mattered what we did in any other category. They had two guys grab as many rebounds as we had as a team. That is about a toughness factor. When the score was 19-14 and we were doing what we wanted to do we started to take quick shots and miss those shots, which turned into transition baskets. We let the frustration of that moment affect what we were doing on the defensive end of the floor. Also during that floor, Desmond and Darin get into foul trouble which really takes away our rebounding advantage."
David Jackson led the Vandals with a career-high 15 points and Keoni Watson added 10 points. O.J. Avworo was the other player in double figures as he finished with a career-high 10 points.
As a team, Idaho shot 23-of-60 (.383) from the floor while Boise State hit a much better percentage 32-of-71 (.451) from the floor.
Trevor Morris opened the scoring with a 3-point field goal on Idaho's first possession and the Vandals later grabbed a 7-2 lead at the 16:47 mark. Boise State then scored the next eight points to take a 10-7 lead, but Jackson ended the drought with a 3-pointer to tie to the game at 10-10 with 13:40 remaining. The teams then traded baskets and Idaho took a brief 14-12 advantage, but Boise State tied the game at 14-14 with a basket with 10:48 remaining. The Vandals scored the next five points to rebuild their largest lead at 19-14 thanks to a Watson 3-pointer with 10:21 remaining. Idaho's offense then began to sputter and Boise State charged out on a 17-1 run to build a 31-20 advantage with 5:27 remaining. Watson ended the streak with a layin, but the Broncos then scored 11 consecutive points to build its largest lead at 42-22 with 1:16 remaining in the half. Idaho scored the final three points of the half to make the score 42-25 at the break.
Boise State scored 24 points in the paint which included 14 from Matt Nelson in the first 20 minutes. The Vandals were hampered by 10-of-30 (.333) shooting and allowed the Broncos to grab a 28-12 rebounding advantage. Idaho's leading scorer at the half was Jackson with eight.
Idaho began the second half missing its first 10 shots and allowed Boise State to jump out to a 56-25 lead with 15:45 remaining. Michael Crowell hit two free throws at the 14:09 mark to end the 5:51 scoring drought and Darin Nagle made a leaner in the lane at the 13:45 mark for Idaho's first field goal of the second half. The Vandals continued on a 17-6 run and were able to cut the margin to 62-42 at the 10:33 mark. Idaho again trailed by 20 after the teams exchanged baskets, but it was the closest the Vandals would come as the Broncos closed out the game with the 86-63 victory.
Boise State had five players in double figures, led by Reggie Larry's 19 points and 18 rebounds. Nelson was held in check in the second half, finishing with 14 points, Coby Karl and Seth Robinson each had 12 points, and Kenny Wilson scored 10 points.
Idaho returns home to face Utah State Saturday (Feb. 10) at 7:30 p.m. PT.
