After kicking off the season with a resounding victory over San Jose State, the Idaho Vandals offense fell short against Cal-State Bakersfield, mustering just 19 second half points in a 68-45 loss to the Roadrunners Tuesday night.
The road trip to Cal-State Bakersfield resulted in the Vandals (1-1) first loss of the season on the bright blue hardwood court of the Icardo Center.
“Ultimately, this falls on me,” said Idaho head coach Don Verlin. “I didn’t get our guys ready for this. I didn’t get them ready like they needed to be.”
The Vandals shot 33 percent in the first half against the Roadrunners and went just 7-21 from the field.
Meanwhile, Cal-State Bakersfield (2-0) shot 62.5 percent from beyond the arc in the first half and converted 13 of 31 shots from the field to take a 38-26 lead at halftime.
Redshirt freshman guard Damiyne Durham took control of the Cal-State Bakersfield offense in the first half, scoring 12 points and adding 3 rebounds. He was aided by senior center Aly Ahmed, who contributed 10 points and 4 rebounds for the Roadrunners during the first half of play.
Cal-State Bakersfield continued their offensive success in the second half with a 12-2 run, extending the team’s lead to 22 with fifteen minutes left to play.
The deficit proved too large for the Vandals to overcome, as the Roadrunners held the Vandals to just 45 total points.
Sophomore guard Victor Sanders played a key role for Idaho, finishing with 10 points and emerging from the game as the only Vandal in double digits. Senior forward Nahshan George also added 8 points and 4 rebounds for the Vandals.
Ahmed and Durham finished with 18 and 16 points for the Roadrunners, respectively.
Idaho only converted 12 of 40 shot attempts during the game, finishing with a 30 percent shooting percentage. The Vandals also turned the ball over 20 times, compared to Cal-State Bakersfield’s 10 turnovers.
“CSUB did a great job of applying pressure, taking us out of our game,” Verlin said.
Despite the differences in offensive productivity and turnovers, the Vandals were able to match the Roadrunners in the rebound battle, finishing the game with 30 rebounds.
“We have to use this as a learning experience,” Verlin said. “What we need to do is sustain our effort and sustain our intensity.”
Idaho’s next game is scheduled against Linfield at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Gym Saturday evening.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom