The Idaho Vandals lost big to Weber State 88-65 in Saturday’s matchup in Ogden, Utah.
Idaho’s woes from behind the arc continued in the contest, shooting 5-for-19, which marks their third straight game with a below 30% 3-point shooting percentage.
Once again, the Vandals got heavily outscored at the charity stripe. They went 10-for-14 while Weber State went 22-for-25. Along with free throws, Weber scored 17 points off second chance points, which was a product of the Wildcats outrebounding Idaho 37-21, including 10 offensive rebounds.
Idaho was led by junior forward Juice Mims, who scored 21 points on an extremely impressive 10-12 shooting day. Junior guard Quinn Denker had another nice performance, posting 13 points, five assists and four rebounds.
The first half consisted of a lot of back-and-forth action, seeing three score changes and as much as an Idaho lead of 12 with 11 minutes to go in the half. As the first half came to a close, the game was all knotted up at 35.
The second half started just how the first half ended, with both teams trading shots, and Idaho was up 49-48 with 12:29 to go. That was the last lead Idaho had in the game, and that is when everything started to fall in a downward spiral.
For the next 12 minutes, Idaho was outscored by the Wildcats 40-14, losing in almost every aspect of the game, and Weber led by as much as 25.
Weber State’s dominant second half run was led by junior guard Blaise Threatt’s 24 points, junior forward Dyson Koehler’s 23 points, and junior forward Dillon Jones’ near triple double of 14 points, eight assists and 11 rebounds.
Weber State shot a very impressive 53%, with 46% from deep, and was a perfect 13-for-13 from the charity stripe in the second half. Idaho’s story was a lot different, shooting 43%, with 26% from beyond the arc, and 7-for-10 on free throws in the second half of play.
Idaho was never able to start up a comeback, and the final score ended at 65-88 in favor of the Wildcats.
Idaho moves to 7-11 and is 1-4 in Big Sky Conference play. Idaho looks to break their five-game losing streak when they host Northern Arizona in ICCU Arena on Thursday, Jan. 25, at 6 p.m.
Bryce Norwood can be reached at [email protected]