Men's Basketball 12/18/2011

Idaho runs away with it

MOSCOW, Idaho – After a back-and-forth first half, University of Idaho men's basketball exploded to start the second and left CSU Bakersfield behind in a 72-44 victory on Saturday at the Cowan Spectrum.

The Vandals (7-4) led by five points at the break, but scored 12 unanswered points and raced out to a 20-1 run at the beginning of the second half to crack the game wide open. CSU Bakersfield (5-5) shot just 21.2 percent in the second half and missed all 10 of its 3-point attempts after the break.

“I thought that first eight to ten minutes in the second half we played very well,” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said after the game. “I thought we did a very, very good job contesting shots and they were only getting one shot in the second half. I was most pleased with our defensive effort tonight. Bakersfield came in shooting almost 42 percent from 3-point land and we held them to 11 percent.”

The win is Idaho's third in a row, and it's also the team's third-straight game shooting at least 50 percent from the field. The Vandals connected on 28 of their 50 attempts for a 56.0 percentage. The Vandals shot 60.7 percent from the field in the second half.

After CSUB's Issiah Grayson hit a jumper at the 19:31 mark of the second half, the Roadrunners missed their next 11 shots over the ensuing seven minutes, during which time Idaho built the insurmountable lead.

Junior center Kyle Barone led all players with 13 points and nine rebounds, while senior guard Landon Tatum added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, which included converting a pair of three-point plays. He also had four rebounds and three assists.

Sophomore Stephen Madison posted a solid all-around game with nine points, seven rebounds, four assists and one steal in 21 minutes of play.

“We came out that first eight to ten minutes (of the second half) and I thought we did a great job defensively, contested shots,” Verlin said. “I thought Kyle and Stephen did a good job rebounding the ball and that ignited our break and we were able to get a little bit of a lead.”

Idaho shot 33.3 percent (6-18) from the 3-point line and made 10 of their 18 free throws for a 55.6 percentage. CSUB went 18-of-67 (.269) from the field and just 2-of-19 (.105) from 3-point range. The 'Runners also went 6-of-10 (.600) from the free throw line.

Despite the 'Runners holding a 16-6 edge in offensive rebounds, the Vandals outscored CSUB in second-chance points, 10-7. Idaho had a 10-6 edge in points off turnovers and a 14-7 advantage on the fast break. Idaho scored 40 paint points to CSUB's 24 and bench points were tied at 23-all.

One point of emphasis and key to Idaho's win was its defense on CSUB's two leading scorers, Grayson and Tyrone White, who came into the game averaging 12.4 and 10.1 points, respectively. The two combined for just seven points on 3-of-16 shooting overall.

“Landon Tatum did a great job on (White). I thought Deremy Geiger did a real nice job on Issiah Grayson,” Verlin said. “Those are their two leading scorers and we pretty much shut them down and I thought that set the tone for the entire game, but most importantly the second half.”

Forward Andre Jackson led CSUB with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, and was the only Roadrunner to break double-digit scoring.

Idaho led by as many as 31 points – its largest lead of the season – on two occasions in the second half. Every Idaho player, except guard Sheridan Shayne who played just one minute, scored in the game, and seven different Vandals registered an assist.

The Vandals leave early Sunday morning for their next test in the form of back-to-back road games in the Midwest. Idaho plays at Wright State (4-8) at 4 p.m. (PDT) on Tuesday, Dec. 20, then plays at Wisconsin Green Bay (5-6) two days later on Thursday, Dec. 22 at 5 p.m. (PDT).

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