BOISE — The Idaho men’s basketball team’s season came to an end Saturday, losing to Northern Arizona 87-76 in the first round of the Big Sky men’s basketball tournament at Idaho Central Arena.
In interim coach Tim Marrion’s debut after the firing of former coach Zac Claus on Monday, the team seemed to be up to the challenge of the Lumberjacks.
Idaho (10-22) found itself down 12-6 to Northern Arizona (10-22) with 15:50 to go in the first half. But a turnaround-jumper by sophomore guard Yusef Salih a minute later would kickstart an 8-0 run by the Vandals. Freshman forward Nigel Burris made a layup, followed soon after by a free throw, that put Idaho in front for the first time at 14-12 with 13:15 left before halftime.
The two teams exchanged ties and leads the rest of the first half, but the Lumberjacks would have the 45-42 advantage going into the locker room thanks to a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by senior forward Nik Mains.
The first six minutes of the second half played out a lot like the latter stages of the first. Idaho’s final lead of the game came at 56-55 score as All-Big Sky guard Divant’e Moffitt hit a stepback 3-pointer.
Northern Arizona went up by double digits with 7:42 to go in the game, but the Vandals managed to get within 80-76 with 1:14 left in the contest.
That was the closest Idaho managed to get the rest of the way as the Lumberjacks ended the game on a 7-0 run.
“I was immensely proud of the guys and the way that they fought,” Marrion said. “I thought some of the mistakes that we made out there, I don’t know how many of those you can attribute to a lack of effort. I think we might have lost our focus a little bit, including me on the sideline. But I couldn’t be prouder in terms of just the effort that they put forth out there.”
Marrion attributed the Northern Arizona’s 13 3-pointers as a main factor for the loss.
“We did a poor job of eliminating 3s,” Marrion said. “That was a big thing coming into the game, talking about how well they shoot it, specifically Jalen Cone. We did a poor job of taking those 3s away and those 3s came back to really bite us.”
Junior forward Isaac Jones paced Idaho with 23 points and five rebounds. Burris added a season-high 21 points to go with seven rebounds.
Northern Arizona was led by Cone’s 25 points Mains added 18 points and six rebounds.
IDAHO (10-22)
Burris 7-10 5-6 21, Jones 9-15 5-8 23, D.Ford 1-2 3-5 6, Moffitt 5-15 4-4 15, R.Smith 2-3 2-2 7, Salih 1-4 0-0 2, T.Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Harge 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-51 19-25 76.
N. ARIZONA (10-22)
Mains 6-14 2-2 18, Towt 6-10 1-4 13, Cone 6-12 8-8 25, Fuller 4-6 5-6 14, Lloyd 1-4 2-2 4, McLaughlin 0-1 0-0 0, Wistrcill 0-2 0-0 0, Fort 5-6 0-0 13. Totals 28-55 18-22 87.
Halftime: N. Arizona, 45-42. 3-Point Goals: Idaho 5-13 (Burris 2-3, D.Ford 1-2, R.Smith 1-2, Moffitt 1-3, T.Smith 0-1, Salih 0-2), N. Arizona 13-29 (Cone 5-9, Mains 4-11, Fort 3-4, Fuller 1-2, Wistrcill 0-1, Lloyd 0-2). Fouled Out: R.Smith. Rebounds: Idaho 24 (Burris 7), N. Arizona 25 (Towt 11). Assists: Idaho 10 (R.Smith 4), N. Arizona 11 (Towt, Fuller 3). Total Fouls: Idaho 20, N. Arizona 19. A: N/A.
