The Vandals traveled to Cheney, Washington to take on local conference rival Eastern Washington. While Idaho kept it close throughout the first half, the team was unable to pull them in during the second, losing 67-77.
The silver and gold kicked off the game in the opening minute with a steal from junior guard Victor Sanders, resulting in a layup from junior forward Arkadiy Mkrtychyan to put the Vandals on the board.
Both teams held the score close with Idaho leading by as many as six points early in the opening half before the Eagles took over to pull ahead by eight.
Although Eastern Washington escaped the opening half with a close lead over Idaho, the Vandals played a tough game, forcing eight turnovers and scoring a total 22 points off of turnovers, 16 alone in the first half.
Leading the way for the Vandal offense after the opening 20 minutes was Sanders with 12 points.
The Eagles offense was headlined by Bogdan Bliznyuk and Ty Gibson, who both came out with eight points.
Idaho head coach Don Verlin said he thought the team did a nice job on defense on some of the opponents but not on all of them.
“I thought we did a really nice job on Jacob Wiley,” Verlin said. “But Sir Washington jumps out and gets 17 points and we lose Gibson a couple times on some key baskets. I thought we did a good job on Wiley and Van Hofe, but we did not do a good job on Bliznyuk or in our overall defensive game.”
The second half looked like that of the first. A good two-point shot from Mkrtychyan brought the Vandals within one-point in the opening seconds of the half before the Eagles continued to extend their lead, eventually spiking it up to 13 points mid-way through the half. Sanders pulled it within five with less than two minutes to go but the Vandals were not able to get any closer.
Sanders held the top spot on the Idaho offense, finishing with 24 points. Following the Eastern Washington game, Sanders moves into 14th on the Idaho all-time scoring list and puts away his 10th 20-point game in conference play.
Mkrtychyan also ended the night strong with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Bliznyuk headlined for the Eastern Washington offense with a total 25 points and 13 rebounds on the game.
As the Big Sky Tournament approaches, Idaho stands in a three-way tie with Montana and Montana State in fourth following the loss.
Verlin said the loss was a result of the opponent playing stronger and tougher than the Vandals.
“They were tougher than we were,” Verlin said. “They beat us at our own game tonight. They defended a lot better than we did, they outrebounded us, and the bottom line is they outcompeted us. Give those guys credit.
Idaho heads back home to take on Idaho State 7 p.m. Feb. 23 in the Memorial Gym.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected]