MISSOULA, Mont.—The hot hand of Connor Hill led the No. 7 seeded Vandals with 23points in the opening game of the Big Sky Conference Tournament. Idaho struggled defensively to slow down Eastern Washington's Tyler Harvey as the No. 2 seeded Eagles advanced, 91-83. Harvey finished the contest tying the Big Sky Tournament record with 42 points.
Idaho saw its 41-38 halftime-lead slip away in the opening minutes of the second half. The Vandals withstood a 15-4 run from EWU to start the final 20 minutes. Down by as many as 10 with 10:41 to play, Idaho climbed back into contention with a 12-3 run to cut the deficit to 67-66 with 6:40 to play. The Vandals regained the lead with a Sekou Wiggs jumper and Mike Scott pushed the lead to three at 70-67 with 5:53 to play.
Eastern's Felix Von Hofe tied the game at 70 on the next Eagles' possession. Hill's sixth three of the game pushed Idaho ahead momentarily, before a 5-0 EWU run put the Eagles back up by five with 2:39 to play. Idaho trimmed the lead to three off a pair of Arkadiy Mkrtychyan free throws, but Harvey answered with a three to put the Eagles back up 81-75.
“It is always tough when it comes to an end,” head coach Don Verlin commented. “You have to give Eastern Washington credit today. They made the plays when they had to. We were right back in that game with about five to go and they made some great plays. We could not get Tyler Harvey slowed down, he played a heck of a game.”
The two sides were tied a total of eight times with eight lead changes, including three changes over the final seven minutes.
Idaho finished the day shooting 50 percent from the field. Perrion Callandret and senior Bira Seck each finished with 13 points. Mkrtychyan totaled 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Scott, a senior, dished out six helpers to go with his seven points. He moved into fifth in single season history with 160 assists.
EWU (24-8) hit 53.4 percent of shots from regulation, with Harvey contributing 13 field goals. He hit a game-best eight shots from long range for 24 of his 42 points. The two teams combined for 23 3-point field goals.
Idaho (13-17) began the first half with Hill netting the Vandals' first six points. His back-to-back 3-pointers tied the game at six inside the first three minutes. Hill started a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range in the half, finishing 6-of-10 for the game.
“It was win or go home,” Hill said. “We just had to lay it all out there. I thought we did that. I thought we played as hard as we could. That is all you can ask for. I am just proud of these guys. I am proud of Mike [Scott] and I am proud of our whole team.”
Outside of Harvey the Eagles had solid contributions from Ognjen Miljkovic and Jois Venky who each totaled 13 and 10 points, respectively. Venky snagged a game-high 14 rebounds to complete his double-double.
Thursday marked the final game for Seck, Hill and Scott as Vandals.
“The hardest thing as a coach is when you get done,” Verlin added. “We had three fantastic seniors that I do not get to coach anymore. These guys busted their tail all year long and are great Vandals. I could not be prouder of them.”
