SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? A barrage of three-point field goals midway through the first half sparked the University of Idaho men's basketball team to a 72-58 victory at Sacramento State.
Idaho hit six consecutive three pointers in a 22-4 stretch that opened up a game that saw just 20 combined points through the first nine minutes. The Vandals moved ahead by 16 and never trailed by more than nine in its first road victory of the young season.
Idaho shot 57-percent from the floor and 56-percent from beyond the 3-point line to improve its record to 4-3 on the season. The Vandals are above .500 in December for the first time since the 2002-03 season. Sacramento State fell to 0-5 with the loss.
“Our guys played hard from start to finish and this is a good win for us,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “I told them they need to do three things to win on the road and those are play hard, play smart, and play together. We did those things tonight. We played extremely hard from the opening tip to right at the end. It wasn't perfect and it was a grind-out game, but we stayed together and played smart with the ball.”
Brandon Wiley took full advantage of his starting role to lead the Vandals with 19 points. Mac Hopson had a near triple-double as he finished with 15 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds while adding two steals. Trevor Morris got back on track by hitting 5-of-6 three pointers to finish with 15 points off the bench. Despite early foul trouble, Marvin Jefferson finished with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in just 11 minutes.
“A lot of guys stepped up for us tonight,” Verlin said. “I couldn't be happier for Brandon Wiley, who is from the area and was playing in front of a lot of his friends and family. I also was glad to see Trevor Morris respond the way he did because I have been on him hard to be a shooter for us. It was great to get all of the contributions, especially with some guys getting into foul trouble.”
The Vandals hit 29-of-51 field goals and finished 9-of-16 from beyond the arc. Idaho held a 31-29 rebounding advantage and finished with 23 assists on its 29 baskets.
The Hornets connected on just 20-of-52 (.385) attempts and committed 17 turnovers. The team hit just 7-of-19 (.368) from the 3-point line.
The game started slowly for both teams as Sacramento State held an 11-9 lead at the 10:57 mark of the first half. Wiley made a lay in to tie the score at 11-11 before Morris hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Idaho a six-point lead. Luciano de Souza followed with a three on Idaho's next possession and Hopson hit on the following possession to put the Vandals ahead 23-11 with 8:21 remaining. After a couple of Hornet free throws, Hopson again connected from downtown and Morris followed with another from long range to make the score 29-15 at the 6:47 mark. The Vandals later moved ahead 37-19 for their biggest lead of the contest, but the Hornets closed the half on a 9-2 run to close the gap to 39-28 at halftime.
Sacramento State pulled within nine points with the first basket of the second half, but Idaho responded with four quick points and would never trail again by single digits. The margin ranged between 10 and 16 points for much of the second half before reaching its peak of 17 with 2:14 remaining and again at 72-55 with 38 seconds to play. The Hornets hit a 3-pointer on their last possession to make the final score 72-58.
Idaho briefly will return to Moscow before heading to Portland, Ore., to face the Portland Pilots Saturday (Dec. 6) at 2 p.m.
