With 42.4 seconds left in the game, the Idaho men’s basketball team had cut Boise State’s lead from 23 points to five. But the Broncos closed out the game with solid free-throw shooting by guard Derrick Marks to beat the Vandals 98-89 Wednesday night in Boise’s CenturyLink Arena.
Idaho (3-4) is one of just two teams to keep Boise State (5-0) under the century mark so far this season. The Vandals are also the only team to close a game within 20 points of the Broncos.
“In these games, they’re not going to quit,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said of the Vandals. “They fought back and battled and got back in the game at the end.”
Marks proved to be too much to handle for the Vandals. Boise State’s junior guard scored 27 of his career-high 39 points in the second half. He went 9-13 from the field and 21-23 from the line to lead a team that had four players score in double-figures. He had all of Boise State’s last 15 points in the game.
Comin in, the Vandals knew they would have to score if they were to beat the nation’s highest scoring offense. They responded by scoring the their highest total so far this season at 89 led by 26 points from senior forward Stephen Madison. Senior guard Glen Dean also had his best scoring performance of the season with 15 points and junior guard Mike Scott added 14 to round out Idaho’s double-digit scorers.
But despite their highest point total of the season, the Vandals never led the Broncos. Idaho coach Don Verlin said the Vandals came into the game trying to shut down Boise State’s three-point shooting as the Broncos averaged 11.8 made threes per game — good for third-best in the nation. Boise State responded by getting the ball to their big man, Ryan Watkins and driving to the hoop in the first half.
“You had to pick your poison,” Verlin said. “I just didn’t feel like we could allow them, down here, to get their crowd rolling and make a bunch of 3-pointers on us, so that’s what we decided to take away.”
Going into halftime, Idaho trailed Boise State 44-31. The Vandals were shooting a respectable 38.7 percent from the field but the Broncos were shooting 60.9 percent. Idaho improved to 50.8 percent in the second half but Boise State maintained with a 55.4 shooting percentage.
“I thought our guys settled in (in the second half) and responded and battled and fought like Vandals do and we were able to get it back to a respectable number,” Verlin said.
With only 7:44 left in the game, the Vandals were still down by 23 points. Seven straight Idaho points cut into the Bronco lead. The comeback began on a layup by sophomore forward Paulin Mpawe. From there, Idaho slowly chipped away at the Bronco lead but the high-powered Boise State offense continued to put up points of its own.
The Vandals came as close as five points in the final minute of the game but missed shots by guards Sekou Wiggs and Connor Hill while BSU’s Marks continued to make his free throws sealed Idaho’s fate in the loss.
The annual rivalry game between the two in-state schools is considered a neutral-site game even though the teams play a mere 1.8 miles from Boise State’s home stadium. Vandal fans gave a strong showing at the game but Boise State fans were more numerous.
“I’d like to see us get a rotation where we play one here (at CenturyLink Arena) one at Taco Bell (Arena) and one at Moscow just so northern Idaho people could see this game instead of on TV, but it doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen,” Verlin said. “It was a good atmosphere tonight but it’s a road game for us.”
Stephan Wiebe can be reached at [email protected]