Halfway through the first half, the Idaho Vandals trailed the Evergreen State Geoducks 14-13 and needed to find an offensive spark.
Redshirt junior guard Jojo Anderson tried to provide that spark when he drove to the lane and launched an alley-oop in the direction of senior forward Juice Mims.
Mims caught the alley-oop, made the shot, and was fouled. The foul was upgraded to a flagrant foul, and Mims made one of the two free throws, giving the Vandals a 16-14 lead.
From then on, the Vandals dominated the Geoducks and ran away with a 101-58 victory to snap their three-game losing streak.
The Vandals slow start gave Geoducks life in the game which frustrated the Vandals.
“We should come into every game like we’re playing BYU or Washington State,” Mims said. “We let it slip, and they started to believe that they could play with us, and that’s unacceptable.”
The Vandals weathered the storm after their slow start and got their offense going, mainly thanks to Mims and redshirt sophomore Tyler Mrus, who both finished the game with 21 points, a career-high for Mrus.
“I missed my first two (shots), then after that, it felt good today,” Mrus said. “I had my teammates, finding me in rhythm, so they made life easy for me.”
Mrus was a huge help for the Vandals beyond the arc. He finished with seven three-pointers on nine attempts, including four in the first half.
The Vandals ended the first half much better than they started. After stretching the lead to 44-30, they had the chance at the last shot at the half to put the game even more out of reach.
The Vandals’ great ball movement created an open three-point look for junior guard Isaiah Brickner. He missed, but redshirt sophomore forward Jack Payne followed up the miss with a layup to put the Vandals up 46-30 heading into the locker room.
The Vandals came out hot in the second half, knocking down back-to-back three-pointers from Mrus and Brickner to stretch the lead to 52-30. The Vandals outscored the Geoducks 44-28 the rest of the way and ended with a 47-point victory, their largest win this season.
According to head coach Alex Pribble, this game was important for the Vandals besides the blowout.
“This was a pretty big game for us,” Pribble said. “It’s not about the final score but about identifying what type of team we’re going to be moving forward. I think the guys did a really good job today.”
With the win, the Vandals moved to 2-3 and are looking forward to the games ahead.
“We’re at a fun part of the season right now,” Pribble said.” Our major opponents in BYU and Washington state are mostly behind us, and the non-division ones are behind us.”
“So, every gym that we walk into moving forward, if we play well, we’re going to have a chance to win, if we play poorly, we’re going to lose,” Pribble said.
The Vandals will head off to San Diego for a weekend tournament where they will play Southern Utah and the University of San Diego, a tournament they look forward to.
“(I’m excited about) getting on the road with my family on the court, making good memories, and getting W’s,” Mims said. “We’re going go in with a chip on our shoulder and take care of business.”
“I believe in this team; I feel like we got something special going on,” Mims continued. We are going make a conscious effort to come here every day, to be the best version of ourselves.”
The Vandals will tip off with Southern Utah from Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday, Nov. 23, at 2 p.m.
Jayden Barfuss can be reached at [email protected]