With the devastating overtime loss against Southern Utah behind them, the Idaho men’s basketball team has been playing the last two weeks without one of the team’s leading scorers.
Junior guard Perrion Callandret hasn’t played since Jan. 9 at Eastern Washington due to a lingering foot injury.
In Thursday’s 63-58 win against the Montana Grizzlies at the Dahlberg Arena at Missoula, Callandret was not in the lineup for a third consecutive game.
Idaho coach Don Verlin said in Tuesday’s press conference that Callandret is a day-by-day, week-by-week process and that the guard would not play this week during the team’s road trip to Bozeman, Montana.
The Vandals have been forced to rely on multitude of other guards to keep the team’s momentum going in conference play while Callandret recovers.
The Vandals have struggled without Callandret, winning only two of their last four games after a five-game win streak in the month of December.
Sophomore Victor Sanders has played a key role in Idaho’s success in recent weeks, as the guard has averaged 26.6 points in the last three games. This includes a career-high 33 points against Northern Arizona Jan. 14.
The Vandals started off slow in the first half against Montana, trailing the Grizzlies 24-22 at halftime. Idaho picked up the pace in the second half with a 12-0 run in the first five minutes as Sanders scored six points.
The sophomore ended the night with 27 points Thursday after scoring nine in the first half. Sanders also went 13-14 from the charity stripe in the matchup.
Senior Chris Sarbaugh, sophomore Chad Sherwood and redshirt freshman Nate Sherwood have also been picking up the slack in recent weeks for Idaho.
In the opening three minutes of Thursday’s game, the trio combined to score the first five points for Idaho.
As the game progressed, Chad Sherwood and Sarbaugh combined for a total of 17 points.
Sarbaugh, a senior co-captain of the team, has displayed a versatile role throughout the season. The guard played a pivotal role in Thursday’s game, seeing 36 minutes of play.
Sarbaugh finished with seven points and led Idaho with eight rebounds and four assists.
Idaho’s win ended Montana’s undefeated run in the Big Sky Conference this season. The Vandals are now 12-7 overall and 4-2 in conference play.
The Vandals will continue the Montana road trip and face Montana State at 1:05 p.m. Saturday in Bozeman, Montana.
Luis Torres can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @TheLTFiles