Idaho opened its season in commanding fashion Friday night, taking down Division II Saint Martin’s 86-62 in an exhibition matchup at the Memorial Gym.
The Vandals defense held the Saints to just six points in the final ten minutes of play and put together a dominating offensive performance en route to a 24-point victory.
“I thought we had some guys play really hard and some rebound the ball very well,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said.
Although Saint Martin’s Trey Ingram scored 13 points in the first half, Idaho responded with its own scoring barrage before the break, cruising to a 16-point lead at halftime.
The Vandals were led in part by sophomore guard Victor Sanders, who went 6 for 8 from the field and posted 16 points in Idaho’s victory.
“I thought he shot the ball pretty well tonight,” Verlin said. “He played with a lot of energy, as he always does.”
After a slow offensive start, the Vandals offense began to pick up steam nine minutes into the game, scoring 10 unanswered points to raise the score to 26-19. Despite the productive night from Ingram, the Saints could not establish a consistent offensive rhythm against the Vandal defense, receiving two shot clock violations early in the first half.
After the Saints scored on consecutive possessions to open the second half, Sanders jumpstarted the Vandals offense by responding with back-to-back shots from inside the key. He then nailed a three-pointer on the following possession to put the Vandals up 54-36.
“I just really credit my teammates,” Sanders said. “We ran the right plays to make everything happen and I just did my job and made the shots.”
Senior forward Nahshon George and junior guard Perrion Callandret each added ten points for the Vandals, and transfer senior guard Chris Sarbaugh dished out eight assists in the win Friday.
Verlin said that he was content with the victory, but said there were a few areas the team could improve before its next matchup.
“I thought we gave them too many looks,” Verlin said. “Basically what we did was wear them down tonight. I was happy with the end result, but I wasn’t happy with the execution of getting that end result.”
Verlin said that although he was disappointed in the overall defensive approach, he felt the Vandals showed flashes of promising play.
“I thought there were periods of the game that we defended really well,” Verlin said. “We just need to come out and be a little more ready to play.”
The Vandals play NAIA foe Lewis-Clark State College at 8 p.m. Friday at the Memorial Gym.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom