BOISE, Idaho – Idaho men's basketball fell to Sacramento State, 57-54 in the opening round of the Big Sky Conference tournament on Wednesday morning at Idaho Central Arena.
"We want to win more games and we have made some strides but it's still not enough," Head Coach
Zac Claus. "I know the young guys in that locker room want to make another big jump forward a year from now. It's hard to see that at the moment because we wanted this game specifically. It has been a dynamite group of guys that have kept fighting through. It's definitely an improvement in the right direction but we want a whole lot more." Â
Idaho shot 44 percent from the field for the game while the Vandals held the Hornets to shoot 40 percent. UI was held to 34.6 percent in the opening period before shooting 51.7 percent in the second period.
Trevante Anderson scored 11 points to lead the Vandals, while Yusef Salih and Mikey Dixon delivered nine points each.
Tanner Christensen recorded eight points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. It was the fifth game this season that the freshman has recorded double-digit rebounds.
Idaho led 8-5 four minutes into the game. The Hornets retook the lead at the 13:11 mark and wouldn't trail the rest of the half. Sac State used a 12-3 run to finish out the first half with a nine-point lead (31-22).
Sac State increased its lead to double digits (38-26) at the 15:36 mark in the second half. The two teams traded baskets for a large portion of the second half as the Vandals were unable to cut into Sac State's lead.
Idaho made its biggest run of the game with over two minutes remaining, as Anderson scored six of his 11 points and Yusef Salih hit one of his three triples to help lead Idaho to a 9-2 run to make the score 54-51. Salih found the bottom of the net on a stepback three attempt after Bryce Fowler made one of his two free throws to make it a one-point game (55-54) with seven seconds remaining. Fowler made two more free throws at the line and the Vandals received one final shot to tie the score, but a Rashad Smith three was off the mark as time expired.
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UI was 5-17 from behind the three-point line and Sac State was 5-16. The Vandals outrebounded the Hornets 37-26.
The Vandals found difficulty taking care of the ball, as Sac State forced 13 turnovers that turned into 13 points for the Hornets.
Idaho finished the season 9-22 while Sac State improved to 11-17.
"It is a measurable improvement for us," Claus said. "We are surrounding ourselves with more talented and better guys. I couldn't be happier with the staff that we have and the support staff that we surround our guys with in Moscow. We are very fortunate that way."
POSTGAME QUOTES - Heach Coach Zac Claus, Seniors Mikey Dixon and JeMeil King
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