RENO, Nev. – It was a down-and-dirty battle and, what has been the story all year long, the Vandals found a way to win, as Idaho took down Eastern Washington, 77-73, in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament.
“We executed our gameplan,” said head coach Don Verlin. “We tried to pound it down low all night long, I thought we did a good job with that. Really happy for our guys, what a great effort. We were who were are, we defended our tails off and we battled.”
Idaho (21-11, 12-6 BSC) advances to the semifinals on Friday, where it will take on Montana. Tipoff is set for 8:05 p.m.
Idaho was tremendous down low, led by Nate Sherwood. Sherwood scored a career-high 19 points on the night, making his first nine shots from the field. He also led the Vandals with eight boards, including three offensive.
The Vandals did not trail in the second half, but never got their lead past seven points. EWU (17-15, 10-8 BSC) kept the pressure on Idaho throughout, cutting the advantage to just three points with 16 seconds to play. Perrion Callandret was poised at the line after the ensuing foul, giving the Vandals the insurmountable lead.
Jordan Scott scored just four points on the night, but came up huge on the defensive end, blocking Bogdan Bliznyuk's 3-ball in the closing seconds to secure the win.
Callandret got out to a slow start, missing his six shots. But he woke up from there, hitting three shots in the second half, including a ferocious slam after a steal at midcourt.
Pat Ingram really stepped up when he was needed most, scoring a career-high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Ingram was a sparkplug for the Vandals, scoring two quick buckets right after stepping in. Most of his field goals came at the rim, battling through the EWU bigs.
Victor Sanders kept the Vandals going in the first half, scoring 12 points on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc. He would go on to finish with 17 points, including 5-of-5 free throws.
The Vandal defense was the real story, as Idaho held EWU to 35.6 percent shooting, its worst performance of the year. Second Team All-Big Sky guard Austin McBroom was held to 0-of-10 shooting from the field, 0-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Idaho, on the other hand, finished the night at 49.2 percent (30-of-61).
Idaho defeated Montana in its only meeting, 63-58 in mid-January. The Vandals were playing with Callandret, but Sanders went off for 27 points to lead Idaho to the win.
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho men's basketball by following the team on twitter, @VandalHoops.
For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com. Fans can also find Idaho on Twitter and Instagram, @Idaho_Vandals, or on Facebook by searching Idaho Vandals
