The Idaho men’s basketball team left the Memorial Gym Saturday with more than just a 66-62 victory over rival Eastern Washington.
The win for the Vandals keeps the team in the hunt for a first round bye in the Big Sky postseason tournament March 7.
“It’s a big win in the conference standings,” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said. “Our goal is to get a top four seed, and they were a game ahead of us…it was a huge game as far as that goes.”
The Eagles used an 8-0 run midway through the first half to take a 15-8 lead over Idaho.
Senior guard Chris Sarbaugh responded with 10 points and four rebounds to spark the Idaho offense.
“(Sarbaugh) got it going,” sophomore guard Victor Sanders said. Â “And when someone gets it going, no matter who it is, you keep giving them the ball. Any time a teammate makes four in a row, you keep feeding the hot hand.”
Junior guard Julian Harrell provided the bulk of the Eastern Washington offense in the first half by scoring 11 points and notching four rebounds. Senior forward Venky Jois added nine points and three rebounds for the Eagles.
The Vandals were unable to connect from behind the arc in the first half. Idaho went 0-6 from 3-point range.
Eastern Washington shot 48.1 percent from the field to enter halftime with a 34-30 lead over the Vandals.
Idaho opened the second half with a 5-0 run to regain momentum in the matchup.
Sanders hit a 3-pointer from the left side of the perimeter to tie the game at 47-47 midway through the second half.
Sophomore forward Bogdan Bliznyuk responded by scoring seven points on three consecutive possessions for Eastern Washington. Bliznyuk’s scoring spree allowed the Eagles to regain a four-point lead.
A three-minute scoring drought for Eastern Washington allowed Idaho to tie the game at 56-56 with 6:11 left in regulation.
Jois connected on a layup from the post for the Eagles, but Sanders converted another trey to give Idaho a 59-58 advantage with four and a half minutes remaining.
Perrion Callandret added to the Idaho lead just seconds later with another 3-pointer.
On the ensuing possession, redshirt freshman power forward Nate Sherwood was called for a defensive foul. The call sent Bliznyuk to the free throw line, and the sophomore converted both attempts.
On the next Eagles possession, Idaho sophomore strong forward Jordan Scott was called for a defensive blocking foul on Harrell.
The junior made both to tie the game 62-62 with 2:25 remaining.
Sophomore forward Arkadiy Mkrtychyan received a travelling violation on the other side of the court for Idaho, giving the Eagles possession of the ball with an opportunity to take the lead. But senior guard Austin McBroom’s 3-point attempt missed the basket.
Sanders then attempted a trey for Idaho from the left side of the perimeter. The shot missed its mark, but Eastern Washington junior Felix Van Hofe was called for a defensive foul on the play, which sent Sanders to the charity stripe for three free throws.
The sophomore converted all three attempts to give the Vandals a 65-62 lead with 1:34 left in the game.
Harrell attempted the potential tying 3-pointer shot, but the ball hit the back of the rim and ricocheted out. Callandret initially secured the rebound for Idaho but was called for an offensive foul, giving Eastern Washington possession of the ball.
Jois attempted to drive the left side of the key for Eastern Washington on the ensuing play, but Mkrtychyan defended the senior in the key and Jois’ layup clanked off the backboard.
Callandret collected the rebound for Idaho and was immediately fouled by Eagle defenders. The junior missed his first free throw but made the second to stretch the Idaho lead to 66-62 with 33.3 seconds remaining in the game.
Eastern Washington attempted to push the ball up the court on the inbounds play, but the Vandals employed full court pressure to slow the quick tempo of the Eagles offense. Von Hofe attempted another 3-pointer for Eastern Washington, but his shot was off the mark.
The Vandals snagged the defensive rebound, but Callandret was called for another offensive foul. The call gave Eastern Washington possession of the ball with 14.6 seconds to play.
Von Hofe received the inbounds pass for the Eagles and launched a trey from the top of the perimeter but the shot missed wide left.
Callandret snagged the rebound for the Vandals, but the junior collided with several Eastern Washington defenders in the scramble for the ball. Callandret immediately fell to the floor and clutched his right foot, which had been previously injured.
“I think it’s something where at this stage in the year where he is going to have to deal with it and play through it,” Verlin said.
“What I think he needs is about four weeks off, but we can’t take four weeks off right now.”
Idaho was called for a five-second violation on the following inbounds play. The Eagles were given possession of the ball, but freshman guard Cody Benzel missed the desperation 3-pointer and the basketball bounced out of bounds with 2.5 seconds on the clock.
The Vandals were able to inbound the basketball and run out the final seconds to clinch the conference victory.
“It was a great basketball game, but Idaho was a little better than us today,” said Eastern Washington head coach Jim Hayford.
“Their strength is their rebounding and they beat us on the boards.”
Sarbaugh said the atmosphere and smaller area of the Memorial Gym helped provide the Vandals with momentum in the matchup.
“When they said we were going to play in Mem for Eastern (Washington), I was so pumped,” Sarbaugh said. “We got fans down here and we got this place packed…it was definitely a rivalry game.”
Eastern Washington missed its last seven shots in the final two minutes of the game.
“When you hold a team as good as Eastern to 23 percent from the 3-point line in the second half and 37 percent in second half, that’s just a good defensive effort,” Verlin said. “And to hold them to 62 points, I couldn’t be more proud of our guys.”
The Vandals shot 54.5 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the arc in the second half of play.
Sanders finished as Idaho’s leading scorer with 16 points. The sophomore went 3-5 from 3-point range and collected three rebounds in the win.
Sarbaugh scored 12 points for Idaho and provided four assists, while Mkrtychyan contributed 10 points and six rebounds.
Sherwood finished with 11 points for Idaho.
Jois led the Eagles with 16 points on 7-10 shooting from the field. Bliznyuk added 12 points and eight rebounds for Eastern Washington.
“We came down here and played a barnburner of a game, and that makes it fun,” Hayford said. “It was a great basketball game, and that’s what you want a rivalry game to be like. But now we’ll just move forward.”
As a result of the win, the Vandals enter the final week of the regular season locked in a four-way tie for third place in the Big Sky Conference standings with a 10-6 record. Eastern Washington, North Dakota and Idaho State are battling with Idaho for the two remaining first round byes in the postseason tournament.
“Every game matters,” Sanders said. “We are not where we really want to be. We’re not satisfied and we’re on a mission.
The Vandals will face No. 1 Weber State next Thursday at the Cowan Spectrum before facing No. 3 Idaho State on Saturday.
“We want to win a Big Sky championship, and we have to do that one game at a time,” Sanders said. “This was just a stepping stone to get there.”
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom