After an emotional 70-63 overtime win last week against Texas Pan-American, the Idaho men’s basketball team failed to improve on its season-best two-game winning streak, when it lost to Cal State-Bakersfield 76–67 Thursday night. “They just played harder than we did. I thought they set up shop and went inside and we couldn’t get them stopped,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “They absolutely kicked our tail on the boards in the second half and for what ever reason we didn’t play as hard as we needed to.”
CSUB’s Aly Ahmed with 13 rebounds and Brandon Barns with 10 rebounds, led the way for the Roadrunners, who out rebounded the Vandals 42 to 31.
“They absolutely kicked our tail on the boards in the second half,” Verlin said. “We didn’t step up and guard Ahmed and Brandon Barns, they did exactly what we thought they would do. They’re physical guys, they rebound and drive the ball to the basket.”
The Vandals got off to a slow start, falling behind 12-2 to start the game.
Right from the opening tip, Verlin thought they didn’t play well. He saw them improve for a 10-15 minute span, but when the heat of the game went up, they didn’t respond, Verlin said.
Much like their last game, the Vandals struggled to shoot the ball. Shooting a measly 43.1 percent from the floor and 25 percent from 3-point.
Stephen Madison led the Vandals with 18 points, but he was 0-5 from 3-point, 7-15 from the field and 4-7 from the free-throw line.
“For lack of a better term, they just lined up and took us out back to the woods and whooped us,” Verlin said.
The Vandals will need to regroup fast. They will head to Orem, Utah, on Saturday to take on the leaders in the Western Athletic Conference, Utah Valley.
Despite being the leaders, Utah Valley will come into this game with a chip on its shoulder as it lost to Seattle U on Thursday night 71-57.
“Best team in the league right now, sitting on top of the standings and they got handed it to them tonight,” Verlin said. “So we’re going to get them when they’re mad, and an irritated Utah Valley team. Were going to have to step up and play some good basketball.”
Idaho lost its first meeting on Jan. 16 to Utah Valley in Moscow, 71-66.
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]