CHENEY, Wash. - The University of Idaho men's basketball team got itself back in the win column on Saturday with solid long-range shooting and timely defensive stops in a 70-60 win at Eastern Washington.
Eastern Washington (1-4) ran a 2-3 zone most of the afternoon and dared Idaho (2-3) to shoot the ball. The Vandals obliged with season-highs of 11 made 3-pointers and 21 assists in an effective offensive effort.
"I was really proud of our guys bouncing back and playing hard tonight, and playing together all night long," Idaho head coach Don Verlin said. "[EWU] zoned us all night long and we had to shoot a lot of threes, and we were very fortunate to make a bunch of them."
Idaho opened the second half on a 10-0 run to give the Vandals their largest lead of the game at 47-30, but Eastern would claw its way back over the next 12 minutes, largely on the back of Kevin Winford, who set an EWU school record with eight made 3-pointers en route to his career-high 28 points.
"You've got to take your cap off to that young man," Verlin said of Winford. "He just had an unbelievable game. He willed them back into the game."
After EWU's Jeffrey Forbes hit a 3-pointer at 5:10 to tie the game at 60-60, the Vandal defense put on the clamps and held the Eagles without a field goal for the remainder of the game. Back-to-back triples by senior Jeff Ledbetter and junior Deremy Geiger put the Vandals back up, 66-60, then Geiger sank four free throws in the final minute to ice the win.
"When it came time to make stops late in the game, we did it," Verlin said.
Geiger led Idaho with a career-high 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting and a 5-of-9 performance from 3-point range. Ledbetter added 15 points, all from the 3-point arc, as well as four rebounds and four assists. Junior Shawn Henderson set a career high with 14 rebounds in the contest, eight of which came on the offensive end.
As a team, Idaho hit 25 of its 60 shots for a 41.7 field goal clip. The Vandals were 11-of-23 (.478) from downtown and 9-of-14 (.643) from the free throw line. Eastern Washington was 22-of-60 (.361) from the floor and 10-of-25 (.400) from 3-point range in the contest.
Of Idaho's eight players in the game, six recorded at least two assists, while Geiger, Ledbetter and Junior Landon Tatum led the way with four dishes each.
Idaho out-rebounded the Eagles, 41-36, grabbed a season-high eight steals and blocked six shots. Eastern had four steals and five blocks, and outscored Idaho 17-10 off turnovers and 13-6 on second-chance points.
It appeared that Idaho might have still had a bit of a hangover from its 12 percent shooting night at Montana last Monday, as the Vandals opened the game shooting just 1-of-9 (.111) from the field.
"In the first half, when we were 1-for-9, we had a number of shots right next to the basket, we just didn't finish," Verlin said. "I told them a couple times in the huddle, 'We're getting good shots, now let's knock them down,' and that was the key tonight."
Verlin's words worked, because after the first media timeout, the Vandals washed their hands of the shooting bug and made 13 of their next 19 to close out the half. Idaho made five shots in a row and converted a 3-point play during a 12-2 run that turned a tight 14-11 lead into a 13-point cushion at 26-13 with 7:54 left in the half.
Idaho stretched its first-half lead to as many as 15 points at 33-18 with 4:38 left in the period, but the Eagles closed the half strongly with three baskets in the paint and a pair of 3-pointers to cut Idaho's halftime lead to 37-30.
After getting back on the right side of the column, Idaho now returns home to host its first regular-season tournament in 21 years. North Dakota, Monmouth and Eastern Washington will come to Moscow for the Basketball Travelers, Inc. (BTI) Classic on Friday, Dec. 3, through Sunday, Dec. 5.
