If someone walked through the crowd at Cowan Spectrum in the opening minutes of Idaho vs North Dakota and asked fans who they thought would win, the responses likely wouldn’t have been uplifting.
After watching a disheartening loss to Northern Colorado Thursday night, it was assumed the Vandals would either fall or fly against the Fighting Hawks.
On paper, the contest looked like a clear victory for the Vandals but the paper doesn’t give the whole story.
The statistics can’t foresee a team coming out of the gate ice cold while the other finds a way to get all its shots to fall.
Once again, this looked like it was going to be the story of Idaho’s night. North Dakota came out clawing, jumping out to an early eight-point lead behind two 3-point shots from UND’s Dale Jones. On the Vandals end, the game looked sloppy – several missed shots and turnovers painted a picture, and it looked a lot like the final one from just two nights before.
Senior guard Perrion Callandret finally got Idaho on the board with a jump shot nearly three minutes into the game, but the Vandals were still missing the momentum and showed no signs of picking it up anytime soon.
North Dakota continued to make themselves look worthy of the “reigning champs” title while Idaho looked less and less like the team that would have that same title come next season. With eight minutes until the break, the Fighting Hawks had built a 16-point lead and showed no signs of relenting.
Meredith Spelbring
Yet all of the sudden the Vandals picked up speed. In just a six-minute span, the trailing home team was just a single point away from the Fighting Hawks. At the 2:44 mark, senior Brayon Blake hit the team’s first 3-point shot of the night to bring the score to 37-36 and it was as if the senior had jumpstarted the teams lagging heartbeat.
Within minutes there was a whole new life in the Cowan Spectrum. Senior guard Chad Sherwood hit Idaho’s second trey of the night with seven seconds until the break and fans thought that was the best thing they would see in the half. Blake found a way to out-do Sherwood’s performance by hitting another 3-ball at the buzzer, sending the crowd into a wild flurry and the team into the break up 46-41.
Maybe Idaho was seeing the same flashbacks to the blowout from Thursday-past just as many fans likely were. Unlike the squad that hit the court against Northern Colorado, the Idaho men’s team against North Dakota found a way to steal the momentum away from the opponents and run with it.
In just a blink of an eye, you might have missed it. The team found the spark and found it fast. Within minutes the men had completely turned the game around, making it something of a headache to try and watch the rapidly altering stats.
The second half was no trouble for the home team. Shots seemed to fall easily and plentiful and the team that once lagged by 16 points held a consistent double-digit lead, often by over 20 points before cruising to a 96-71 victory.
Earlier in the week, Idaho head coach Don Verlin stressed the importance of the weekend home stand, as it could have been the team’s chance to claim their spot at the top of the conference, or at least come close to it.
The win over North Dakota was more than a chance to stay in the Big Sky championship conversation – Idaho proved it could do it in the face of adversity. Northern Colorado came in and wiped the floor with the Vandals after already beating the team earlier in the season. While Thursday’s rematch was a little uglier than the original for the Vandals, it was the same game –Idaho was presented with a challenge and crumbled.
This lingered on the court before the Hawks and the Vandals tipped off, and based on the way Idaho started the game, it was not an easy thought to shake.
There is a lot of comfort to be found in how the Vandals carried out the contest against North Dakota. It would have been too easy for Idaho to drop the contest, assuming it was a repeat of Northern Colorado and they had already lost before halftime even rolled around. Everyone else in Cowan Spectrum sure thought that.
Instead, the team found a way to not just pull out a win, but win in resounding style. Idaho turned an inch into a mile in one of the best comebacks of its season.
Sure, this team is not where many expected and hoped they would be at this point in the season at third place in the conference with a 6-3 conference record. But none of this matters until the team hits the court in Reno and shows what it is capable of. Last night, it showed it is capable of winning.
Meredith Spelbring can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @mere0415