HONOLULU, Hawai`i ? The University of Idaho men's basketball team notched a huge victory with an 85-77 overtime win at Hawai`i Thursday night.
The win for Idaho (7-19, 4-10) sets up a showdown Saturday night at San Jose State that could potentially decide which team rises from the bottom of the WAC standings. Hawai'i (11-15, 7-6) doesn't move in the standings with the loss and remains in fifth place.
“We played very well on both sides of the ball tonight,” Idaho coach George Pfeifer said. “The game was won with rebounding. We grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and shot 50-percent from the floor so we didn't have very many empty possessions tonight. It takes toughness to win on the road and even with all of the distractions heading into this game our players showed a great deal of focus and toughness.”
Idaho was led by Michael Crowell's 20 points and 11 rebounds as Crowell earned the first double-double of his career. Mike Hall scored 16 points with four 3-pointers and Jordan Brooks finished with 15 points, 14 assists, and seven rebounds. Brooks' 14 assists rank third all-time at Idaho. Clyde Johnson also chipped in 13 points.
The game was tied at 6-6 early in the contest before Idaho pulled ahead 15-7 at the 10:48 mark. The Vandals held the lead for the entire first half and claimed their largest margin at 31-16 with 3:43 remaining. At that point, Hawai`i put together a 12-0 run to pull within three points, but Brooks kept the opponents at bay with a basket right before the buzzer to give Idaho a 33-28 lead heading into halftime.
Idaho held the lead until a 3-pointer gave Hawai`i a 42-41 advantage with 14:11 remaining. The Vandals regained the lead on their next possession and eventually built a seven-point margin at 60-53 with 6:28 to play. After leading 65-60 with 3:19 remaining, Hawai`i scored the next four points to pull within one with 1:52 remaining. Idaho turned the ball over on its next possession, but Hawai`i missed a jumper on their possession. Brooks was called for a turnover when Idaho got the ball back and was then called for a technical foul which sent Hawai`i to the free throw line with 38 seconds remaining. Bobby Nash sank both free throws to give the Rainbow Warriors the lead and Idaho fouled after the ball was in-bounded and Nash hit two more free throws to give Hawai`i a 65-62 advantage with 29 seconds to play. Terrence Simmons drove and kicked to Crowell, who hit a 22-foot 3-pointer with 21 seconds remaining to tie the game at 65-65. Hawai`i played for the last shot, but the attempt was blocked away by Darin Nagle and the Rainbow Warriors were not able to get the ball back to the basket.
The teams went back on forth in the first possessions of overtime and the score was tied at 72-72 with 3:50 remaining. Hall nailed a 3-pointer to put Idaho ahead and Hawai`i tried to answer but the attempt was off. Idaho took a five-point lead with a Crowell basket on the next possession and never looked back. Overall, the Vandals were 5-of-6 from the floor in the overtime period and hit 6-of-7 free throws after making just 4-of-13 free throws through regulation.
Idaho held a 41-27 advantage in rebounding and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds. The team shot 32-of-63 (.508) from the floor in the game and hit 11-of-22 (.500) 3-pointers.
The Vandals enter Saturday's match up at San Jose State trailing the Spartans by one-half game in the WAC standings. A win for Idaho would give the Vandals the tie-breaker if Idaho and San Jose State end the season tied in the final standings. Saturday's game begins at 7 p.m. PT at San Jose, Calif.
