The Idaho men’s basketball team fell to Northern Illinois 66-59 Saturday night at the Memorial Gym after failing to take offensive control.
“This was a good team we just played,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “I thought we fought like crazy. We just didn’t shoot the ball well tonight.”
Senior forward Nahshon George, junior point guard Perrion Callandret and sophomore guard Victor Sanders helped the Vandals keep pace with NIU offensively.
NIU led 34-32 at halftime. Idaho shot 28.6 percent from 3-point range and 34.4 percent from the field in the first half.
“We had a lot of good looks,” Verlin said. “We just didn’t make it.”
Sanders finished the first half with 11 points and ended the night with 17 points to lead the Vandals.
“Most of our plays, they get us into position to score around the 3-point line or get a post touch,” Callandret said. “Sometimes when we’re struggling at the 3-point line we need to find a way to get our post touches. We have to keep shooting them but we have to pick our spots.”
The Vandals shot 50 percent (10 of 20) from the free-throw line in the second half and finished the night at 59.3 percent.
Callandret added 14 points – his fourth straight game in double digits. He also logged the most minutes (37) and contributed five rebounds.
Callandret scored a career-high 18 points against Samford Wednesday at the Mean Green Challenge in Denton, Texas. He scored in the double digits in all three of Idaho’s games at the tournament.
“I really like the way he’s been playing,” Verlin said. “He’s been running our team. I think he’s the guy that can take us to the next level and I really like what he’s done this season.”
George chipped in 12 points against Northern Illinois.
“We learn about this team every game,” Verlin said. “We have a ton of new guys who haven’t played a ton of minutes.”
Verlin said sophomore forward Arkadiy Mkrtychyan is “a little rusty,” but will be fine moving forward.
“He’s a returning leading scorer (and) rebounder,” Verlin said. “He’s going to be just fine this year.”
Mkrtychyan came back from a three-week break following knee surgery. He scored six points, grabbed five rebounds and had three turnovers against NIU. Verlin said he looks to Mkrtychyan to help add points at the free-throw line as the season continues.
The Vandals play California State-Bakersfield at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Memorial Gym.
Tess Fox can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @tesstakesphotos