As Stephen Madison challenged the Idaho record books with 42 points Saturday against Utah Valley, so did Connor Hill with his 3-point shooting Tuesday against Cal State-Northridge hitting eight 3-pointers, just one shy of the Idaho record.
Philip Vukelich | Argonaut
Junior guard Mike Scott makes a pass to teammate Sekou Wiggs during Idaho’s 96-88 win against CSU Northridge Tuesday in Memorial Gym.CSU
“I knew I made quite a few,” Hill said. “But it was more of just trying to get the win, so I felt like I got to make another one to just try and extend the lead.”
Hill led the Vandals with 28 points in a 96-88 win over CSUN. It was the highest point total for the Vandals this season, eclipsing the 89 points they had at Boise State.
“It was just feeling good tonight, my shot felt good,” Hill said. “The first couple of 3s I shot just felt good, so I knew it could be one of those nights where everything I was throwing up would go in. It was nice being back at home in Mem (Gym). There is a comfort zone here, these new rims up here aren’t bad — I kind of like them.”
In an uncommon February nonconference game, the Vandals had nothing to lose. They didn’t play like it, though.
“It was the only time we could fit it in,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “I’m glad we were at home and not on the road. We had a good practice yesterday, we took Sunday off and used it as a travel day. I thought we had some pretty good energy tonight.”
Madison drew a double team most of the night and struggled to score in the first half with only six points. That opened the door for two freshmen to shine.
Sekou Wiggs had 16 points and Ty Egbert had 11 points and two blocks, in the Vandal win.
“They’re going to be pretty good players in this program,” Verlin said. “I’ve had high hopes for Ty, he finally got his legs under him and playing like I expect him to play and Wiggs is a really good player. We’re going to see a lot of good things from Sekou Wiggs and Ty Egbert.”
With CSUN lingering, the two freshmen would contribute in putting them away.
Egbert caught a pass in the paint and laid it in to give the Vandals an eight-point lead, with just over a minute remaining in the game.
“It was really big for us,” Egbert said. “We were kind of starting to slow down and slack off. Once we had that, we started rolling again.”
Then Wiggs would close out the game with two clutch freethrows with 13 seconds left in the game giving the Vandals the eight-point lead they finished with.
The Vandals had five players scoring in double figures for the first time since 2011. Along with Hill, Wiggs and Egbert, the Vandals had Mike Scott with 10 and Madison with 21.
“It’s always a lot better if we’re evenly balanced,” Verlin said. “We did a great job in executing the game plan, no question about it.”
Madison struggled early, but still made his presence felt late in the game.
“I thought he did a good job passing the ball,” Verlin said. “Stephen Madison goes 21 and eight and we think it’s a subpar performance. That’s the sign of a pretty good player.”
Idaho plays again on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Memorial Gym against Grand Canyon, who beat the Vandals earlier this year 86-73.
Korbin McDonald can be reached at [email protected]