After a huge win over Northern Colorado in Lewiston, the Vandals looked to keep the momentum going against Northern Arizona. However, they struggled to get anything going against the Lumberjacks and suffered a 72-50 defeat.
The Lumberjacks got the game started with a jumper by redshirt senior Nik Mains. The Vandals answered back with four points from junior forward/center Isaac Jones to go up 4-2. The Vandals keep adding to their lead, extending it to 12-6 after six minutes of play.
Northern Arizona answered back with a 10-4 run to take the lead back. The Lumberjacks did not surrender the lead again as they capitalized on the Vandals’ scoring woes to take a 37-24 halftime lead. The Lumberjacks were effective shooting the ball, going 15/27 from the field, 5/8 from three and a perfect 2/2 from the free-throw line. Mains led the Lumberjacks with eight points in the first half.
The Vandals shot the ball poorly as they went 8/26 from the field, 1/9 from three and 7/10 from the line. Jones led all scorers with 12 points. With minimal shots falling, Idaho needed to turn things around coming out of the locker room.
The second half could not have started any worse for the Vandals. Mains got the first basket of the half, went on a 6-5 run by himself and pushed the lead to 43-29. Jones answered back with a dunk and a layup to get the game to 43-33. Down 10, the Vandals went on a 7-4 run to make it 47-40, but the Lumberjacks came to play.
After a timeout from NAU, the Lumberjacks answered with another run to get the score to 54-42. They continued to put pressure on, and the Vandals were unable to do much. Northern Arizona continued cutting right through the Vandals in the second half, outscoring them 35-26 on their way to a 72-50 victory.
Northern Arizona shot 15/30 from the field, 4/11 from three and 1/2 from the line. The Vandals shot the ball slightly better in the second half as they went 11/25 from the field, 2/11 from three and 2/4 from the line. In total, the Lumberjacks were 30/57 from the field, 9/19 from three and 3/4 from the line. The Vandals were 19/51 overall, 3/20 from three and 9/14 from the free-throw line.
Jones led all scorers with 22 points going 9/12 from the field and 4/7 from the line. He also pulled down 13 rebounds. Ford Added 16 points, shooting 5/12 from the field, 3/8 from three and 3/4 from the line.
The impressive win on Thursday was overshadowed tonight by a 22-point loss to the last team in the Big Sky. Despite his individual success, Ford knew something was off with the team.
“It just was one of those nights we couldn’t click offensively (or) defensively,” Ford said. “It just wasn’t our night”.
After a loss like this, the Vandals are going to have to put the work in during practice this week.
“Be ready to go right back to work when we get on the practice floor Monday,” Head coach Zac Claus said.
The Vandals have a crucial week coming up as their game on Thursday at 6 p.m. is round two of Battle of the Domes. Idaho will travel to Pocatello and try to avenge their 95-91 home loss to Idaho State earlier this season.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JaydenBarfuss10.