LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Idaho men's basketball team (6-7) battled back from down 20 points to pull within one, but a pair of late threes by Long Beach State (6-6) helped secure an 82-75 victory on Wednesday night at the Walter Pyramid.

Sophomore Yusef Salih provided his best scoring performance of the season, posting a season-high 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting. The guard from Gainesville, Virginia found a rhythm from outside with a personal best of five made 3-pointers. 

Guard Divant'e Moffitt scored 17 points and dished out eight assists while forward Isaac Jones delivered his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Nigel Burris had 13 points and two blocks in the effort. 

The first eight minutes of action saw each team trading baskets. After a three by Salih to tie the score at 16-16, the Idaho offense was unable to find its rhythm and LBSU got hot from three, knocking down six 3-pointers that were a part of a 24-4 run to put The Beach up 40-20 with 5:54 to go in the first half.  

A 10-2 run by the Vandals followed to cut into LBSU's lead. A pair of threes from Salih and layups from Rashad Smith and Burris had Idaho down 11 (41-30). The Vandals would cut it to single digits after back-to-back made buckets from Moffitt and Jones, but LBSU quickly made a jumper to end the half up 44-34. 

Out of the break, Idaho found its way back within single digits and ultimately made it a one-possession game after another Salih three had the Vandals only down two points (51-49) with over 13 minutes left to play.

The Silver and Gold kept it within a two-possession ball game for the next 10 minutes of action before getting it to a one-point game (70-69) after a made free throw by Moffitt. LBSU's three-point shooting showed up in crunch time as Aboubacar Traore and Joel Murray hit critical threes at the 2:08 mark and 36-second mark to help close any kind of comeback for Idaho.

Idaho shot 46 percent from the field while Long Beach State went 26-of-54 (48%) from the field, including a season-high 53 percent (10-of-19) from three.  

Long Beach State took advantage on the glass, outrebounding Idaho 38-26. 

UP NEXT
Conference action begins after Christmas break when the Vandals head to take on the Montana schools. Idaho will open with the 2022 defending Big Sky Tournament champions in the Montana State Bobcats on Dec. 29 (6 p.m. PT) before traveling to Missoula for a New Year's Eve matchup against Montana at 1 p.m. PT. 

POSTGAME WITH ZAC CLAUS


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