At the end of the first half Connor Hill hit a three-pointer that gave Idaho its first lead since the 18-minute mark. The 32-29 lead at half was too close for an exhibition game against Lewiston’s Lewis-Clark State who plays at the NAIA level.
“I think we’re young, and we looked like it there for about 15 minutes in the first half,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said.
The second half was better. Idaho’s three-point lead slowly grew, and when the final buzzer rang the scoreboard read 75-57. This was the last exhibition game before Idaho starts its season against Eastern Oregon 7 p.m. Nov. 14 in Memorial Gym.
LCSC is no slouch from the NAIA. The Warriors are 4-0 in their regular season so far, and no opponent has been within 20 points. Verlin said he was impressed and expects them to have a good season.
After six turnovers in the first exhibition game against Simon Fraser, sophomore guard Perrion Callandret had the look of a completely different player against LCSC. He finished the night with 12 points, two assists and most importantly — one turnover.
“I thought he played a pretty solid game,” said Verlin of the young guard from Bothell, Washington. “He’s a year older, a year more mature … Perrion has really worked hard in the offseason, I expect him to have a really good sophomore year.”
Callandret was one of four guards who reached double digits in the point column. Hill and sophomore Sekou Wiggs each had 13 points and senior point guard Mike Scott had 11 points.
With a lack of bodies and presence in the post, Verlin said he will always have three guards on the floor, but he wants to establish a post game.
“We got to do a better job at getting the ball inside,” he said. “I thought we missed our post guys on a number of occasions. When they’re down there we need to get the ball to them.”
Verlin said improved defense was the reason for the second half surge, which was led at the top by Scott.
“Mike is our leader,” Verlin said. “He’s got to be a guy that brings it every night and Mike’s had a great fall camp and played very well. He’s playing good basketball right now, but I expect him to play good.”
Along with his 11 points, Scott finished the night with a team high three steals, four assists, and zero turnovers.
Verlin said he’s not set on a rotation for the regular season, but expects the have one after the first few regular season games.
“We got too many new guys and too many young guys to say I’m solid on rotation,” he said. “As we start moving into these next three or four games, I’ll figure it out.”