Talented freshmen have been the talk of college basketball in recent years, but on Tuesday night, two senior guards stole the show. Idaho’s Mike Scott and Boise State’s Derrick Marks scored 31 points each as the Broncos beat the Vandals 86-75 at CenturyLink Arena in Boise.
Scott, a Los Angeles native, shot 6-of-7 from 3-point range and 11-of-17 overall from the field. He also led the Vandals with five assists and committed zero turnovers.
“I was just really focused,” said Scott of his 3-point shooting performance. “I’ve been in the gym working on it a lot. Last year, I don’t think I shot too well from behind the arc so I’ve been in the gym getting a lot of work in. As you can see, it paid off.”
Scott found his rhythm early as he scored 11 of Idaho’s first 16 points.
“I started off hot,” Scott said. “I just kept going. I kind of surprised myself I started off so hot.”
Idaho coach Don Verlin said Scott played one of the best games of his career and probably played as good of game since former Vandal Stephen Madison scored 41 points against Utah Valley last season.
“Mike has worked his tail off since the end of the season last year,” Verlin said. “He was in Moscow all summer long working on his shot, working on his conditioning and strength. It’s really paid off and it couldn’t happen to a nicer young man.”
Marks, who is from Chicago, shot 10-of-16 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Boise State led at halftime 38-28, but both teams started finding the bottom of the net in the second half. Idaho shot 53 percent from the field in the second half compared to Boise State’s 63 percent.
Both teams lit it up from 3-point range. The Vandals fired 61 percent for the game and the Broncos shot 50 percent.
“We knocked down the open looks,” said Verlin of his team’s 3-point shooting. “We were able to drive our ball to the basket. We moved the ball pretty well tonight. We were able to score some baskets early inside and that kind of opened it up a little bit for us.”
While the offense came through for the Vandals in the second half, they just didn’t generate enough stops on the defensive end.
“We played pretty well offensively,” Verlin said. “We just didn’t defend hard enough, well enough and tough enough tonight.”
Boise State led for most of the game. The Broncos jumped out to a 10-4 lead to start the game, but the Vandals responded with a run of their own. Idaho took a 12-10 and a 15-13 lead after Scott 3-pointers. Boise State led the entire second half, but Idaho stayed at least relatively close most of the half.
The Vandals cut the Boise State lead to 47-46 after a Bira Seck layup. Idaho trailed 60-55 later and 72-65 with about 3:45 left in the game.
“We just didn’t get the stops we needed and they kept pulling away,” Scott said.
Seck finished with a double-double. He scored 16 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
Idaho (2-2) will play Northern Kentucky 7 p.m. Saturday in Memorial Gym.
Garrett Cabeza can be reached at [email protected]