Fallen: Vandals thrashed by Aggies, fail to advance in postseason

It was an unbearable end to an unforgettable season for the Idaho men’s basketball team, that was thrashed by WAC opponent Utah State 76-56 in the second round of the Collegeinsiders.com Tournament Saturday in Logan, Utah.

Zach Edwards | uiargonaut.com Idaho guard, Deremy Geiger, attempts a layup during the Vandals' first round game of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament March. 14 in Cowan Spectrum. The Vandals beat UC Santa Barbara in the opening round 86-83, but lost to Utah State in the second round 76-56.

After defeating UC Santa Barbara in Wednesday’s first-round game, the Vandals experienced one of their worst shooting nights of the season. Idaho dug itself into a hole early, shooting 27 percent from the field in the first half.
“It’s a very tough place to play, they’re very well coached,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “This game needs to be flushed down the toilet, really. I don’t think we need to focus on this game as far as our season.”
The Vandals, who went scoreless for the game’s first four-and-a-half minutes, scored just 16 points in the first half. Utah State also struggled offensively starting out shooting 1-7. But a 13-0 Aggie run followed and the hosts were up 19-3 midway through the first.
Five minutes later, the Aggies scrapped together a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 24 points. Stew Morrill’s squad cruised into halftime with a 39-16 advantage.
The teams traded 7-0 runs to begin the second, but a Vandal comeback was too much to ask despite a much-improved 52 percent shooting in the second half.
No Idaho players scored in double digits, but juniors Kyle Barone and Mansa Habeeb each poured in eight second-half points to help the cause of an offensively flat Vandal side.
Aggie guard Preston Medlin tallied a career-high 32 points against the Vandals earlier this season, but Idaho held the sophomore All-WAC first-teamer to 50 percent from the field and 17 points this time around.
Idaho out-rebounded the Aggies 30-25 but committed 17 more turnovers. Utah State shot 49 percent from the field and was led by Brockeith Pane, who dished out 11 assists despite scoring just seven points.
Verlin said Saturday’s result in no way reflected what Idaho achieved during the regular season.
“What this Vandal team did is they played with their heart all season long. This team did a number of unbelievable things and things you have to be proud of,” he said. “They came to work every single day, it didn’t start in the season — it started early this summer.”
The Vandals lengthened the season by winning their opening round game in the CIT, a feat they failed to achieve last season against San Francisco. Idaho’s third postseason appearance in four years compliments its best WAC record (9-5) in school history and victories against every team in the process, including an away win at then undefeated Nevada.
Four of Idaho’s five starters received All-WAC honors, including each of the team’s three seniors — Deremy Geiger, Landon Tatum and Djim Bandoumel.
“Our seniors were as good as three guys as I’ve ever seen,” Verlin said. “They all did their jobs, so mainly their hard work and dedication to Vandal basketball enabled them to put together a great season.”
Verlin’s 19-win team returns two starters in Barone and sophomore Stephen Madison, while all eight bench players will also be back.
“We’ve got to continue, we had lineups out there that we’ll play a bit next year, I like the foundation,” he said. “We have 10 guys coming back, and I think we’ve recruited well.”