Five minutes into the second half the Vandals were left for dead, reeling from a 16-0 Eastern Washington run and a 17-point deficit to start the second half.
Vandal forward Marcus Bell rises for a reverse lay-up against Montana Nov. 17 in Memorial Gym. Idaho defeated Eastern Washington in a 81-79 overtime battle at Reese Court Dec. 6 in Cheney.
The Eagles had the Vandals just where they wanted them.
With scoring contributions from five different players the Vandals spent the next eight minutes on a 23-5 run to retake the lead at 56-55. The teams would spend the remaining seven minutes of the second half plus an overtime period trading punches back and forth until the Vandals came out on top 81-79.
Mansa Habeeb banked in a mid-range jumper from the elbow with 21 seconds remaining in overtime to send Idaho out of Reese Court with its first road victory of the season.
The Vandals collected their second consecutive win to move to 3-4 on the season and they’ll travel to El Paso, Texas, Saturday to face UTEP. Five of Idaho’s next six games are away from the Cowan Spectrum, including the Governor’s Cup clash with Boise State at CenturyLink Arena.
From the minute Idaho got off the bus in Cheney the Eagles were determined to take the Vandals downtown, attempting 34 3-point attempts. The Eagles started off cold hitting only two of their first 10 attempts, but heated up in the second half making five of their next nine attempts, finishing 11-34 on the night from beyond the arc.
Given the amount of attempts for Eastern Washington, the perimeter defense from Idaho was solid for most of the night. The Vandals were also able to dominate the boards (51 to 29) thanks to Eastern’s 23 missed long-range attempts. Idaho countered by dominating inside the paint for the most of the night with Stephen Madison and Kyle Barone.
Madison led all scorers with 29 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Barone finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and tied Robert Harris Jr. for a team-high five assists.
The Eagles keyed their 16-0 run to start the second half with rare success in the paint, laying the ball up four times and getting Idaho into foul trouble.
When Idaho started to close out the paint the Eagles went back to the perimeter. When those shots didn’t fall, the Vandals ran in transition all the way toward a 17-2 run and their first lead of the second half with 7:29 remaining.
Eastern Washington’s Justin Crosgile gave Idaho fits, finishing the night with 26 points, and shooting 8-16 from the perimeter. Crosgile hit the tying 3-point jumper with 1:32 remaining in the second half to send the game into overtime.
Idaho wasn’t as proficient from beyond the arc as its opponent, but the Vandals were more clutch.
Connor Hill sank one off a screen with 3:22 remaining during the back-and-forth gridlock down the stretch. He came back in overtime and hit a three, plus the foul, to give Idaho a 77-74 lead.
Sean Kramer can be reached at [email protected]