Seattle RedHawks center Charles Garcia has been called one of the best players on the West Coast, with a dominating inside game based on unstoppable post moves. But tonight it was the homestanding Idaho Vandals who owned the paint — Garcia notwithstanding.
Holding off repeated RedHawks charges down the stretch, Idaho (13-12, 4-8 Western Athletic Conference) captured an 82-72 victory over Seattle (13-14) in the Cowan Spectrum, giving the Vandals their first winning record since early January. With just five games remaining in the regular season, every win is precious for an Idaho team trying to claw its way back into the postseason conversation. In the teams’ previous meeting this season, on Jan. 30, the Vandals took down the RedHawks in KeyArena, 87-85.
Idaho’s starting inside duo, Marvin Jefferson and Luiz Toledo, combined for 26 points and shot .750 from the floor, contributing mightily to the Vandals’ 44-30 edge on points in the paint. They collectively held Garcia to 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting, well below his average. Meanwhile, Kashif Watson juked and slashed his way to 20 points on a .750 field-goal percentage of his own.
“Coach has been preaching all along that the seniors are going to lead this team in February and March, and it was a night for me and Marvin to step up and have a big game,” Watson said. “The way we played tonight fits my style, getting up and down in transition and converting the easy opportunities.”
As a team, the Vandals shot 57 percent from the field while holding the RedHawks to just 38 percent. Unusually, Idaho hit just one 3-pointer all night on only six attempts, nearly a season-low. Clearly, coach Don Verlin instructed his team to eschew the quick jump-shot in favor of driving the lane and pounding Seattle in the paint.
The fast-paced battle was a pitched, back-and-forth affair for the opening 11 minutes, as the lead swapped back and forth seven times in that span with no team drawing more than a three-point advantage. But the RedHawks’ third-leading scorer, Cervante Burrell, was whistled for three personal fouls in 14 seconds — from 17:57 to 17:43 — and spent the rest of the half on the bench. That might well come back to haunt Seattle coach Cameron Dollar, as Burrell fouled out late in the second half and finished with zero points and one rebound.
Though he was relatively quiet the rest of the night, it was Luciano de Souza who would break the logjam and give Idaho the lead for good with a textbook top-of-the-key 3-pointer. His nothing-but-net jumper gave the home team a one-point edge with eight-and-a-half minutes remaining and ignited the small but vocal crowd of 1,287. Seemingly feeding off that energy, the Vandals closed the half on a 22-10 run, punctuated by dunks from Watson, Jefferson and Kyle Barone, and took a 38-28 lead into the locker room.
Verlin was pleased with the first half’s offensive production, but praised his team most for its tight defense and careful ball-handling against the RedHawks’ high-pressure trap. He noted that in the Vandals’ previous meeting with Seattle, they’d given up 24 turnovers. Tonight, that stat was just 15, and only five came in the opening period. In transition, the Vandals gave up just four fast-break points — the RedHawks had 43 against UC Davis.
“We executed very well in our press-breaker,” Verlin said. “Our two main point guards (Mac Hopson and Steffan Johnson) combined for 13 assists and only four turnovers — that’s called handling the pressure. There were three big challenges for us tonight: stopping the break, escaping the trap and owning the glass. We did all three of those things and came out with a very nice win.”
Seattle refused to go quietly, however, and Garcia — who scored only two points in the first half — started to find his game. The RedHawks opened the second half on a 9-2 run, including back-to-back-to-back layups from forward Gavin Gilmore, to cut the Vandals’ edge to just three points. A pair of clutch free throws from Watson built the lead back to two possessions — where it would remain the rest of the way.
Garcia, though, kept the game from getting out of his team’s reach as the clock wound down. He pulled out moves that no Idaho player could match and made some big-time shots.
“One of our keys was not to let Garcia spin on the baseline and we let him do that four times in the second half,” Verlin admitted. “Still, we kept him below his average and when you can do that to a very talented player like Garcia, that’s a good defensive night.”
The Vandals were never safe until the final minute of play, as a clutch three from Taylor Olson made it a 76-72 game with 1:02 on the clock. Fans began to get uneasy, remembering Idaho’s recent last-second chokes against Boise State and Nevada.
Not this time. The Vandals converted six straight free throws to ice the game, while Seattle missed its final seven desperation shots.
“We made our free throws and Marvin came up with some huge rebounds,” Verlin said. “That’s what we’ve got to do to close out basketball games.”
Idaho will get back to practice tomorrow and prepare for Saturday afternoon’s ESPNU BracketBusters showdown against Long Beach State. The 49ers are coached by Moscow High and University of Idaho graduate Dan Monson — son of Vandal coaching legend Don. That game is scheduled to tip at 5:30 p.m. in the Cowan Spectrum.
Official Basketball Box Score
Seattle vs Idaho
02/18/10 7:05 p.m. at Moscow, Idaho (Cowan Spectrum)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Seattle 13-14
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Lever,Garrett....... * 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 1 2 0 1 25
02 Broussard,Aaron..... * 3-9 1-4 1-2 0 6 6 0 8 3 0 0 2 28
05 Burrell,Cervante.... * 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 5 0 1 0 0 0 13
15 Gweth,Chris......... * 5-15 3-7 2-2 3 5 8 2 15 4 0 1 1 30
33 Gilmore,Gavin....... * 4-5 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 8 1 0 0 0 14
00 Boxley,Mike......... 1-7 0-3 0-0 2 0 2 3 2 1 1 0 2 22
11 Olson,Taylor........ 3-5 3-3 2-2 0 0 0 2 11 0 0 0 0 12
21 Harris,Peter........ 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 11
45 Garcia,Charles...... 5-12 0-2 4-6 3 3 6 3 14 0 5 2 0 24
52 Jones,Alex.......... 5-10 1-2 3-7 2 0 2 5 14 0 3 0 3 21
TEAM................ 3 3
Totals.............. 26-68 8-23 12-19 14 18 32 26 72 11 11 3 10 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-32 34.4% 2nd Half: 15-36 41.7% Game: 38.2% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-14 28.6% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 34.8% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-5 40.0% 2nd Half: 10-14 71.4% Game: 63.2% 1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Idaho 13-12, 4-8 WAC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
01 Hopson,Mac.......... * 3-7 0-1 9-11 0 6 6 2 15 9 3 0 2 35
05 Johnson,Steffan..... * 1-4 0-2 2-2 1 2 3 1 4 4 1 0 0 33
21 Toledo,Luiz......... * 3-4 0-0 4-6 1 6 7 3 10 0 2 0 3 31
32 Watson,Kashif....... * 8-12 0-0 4-8 0 3 3 0 20 1 3 0 0 29
53 Jefferson,Marvin.... * 6-8 0-0 4-8 4 4 8 2 16 1 1 4 0 24
02 Ledbetter,Jeff...... 1-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 1 6
03 Henderson,Shawn..... 2-4 0-0 2-2 0 3 3 2 6 1 2 0 1 12
13 De Souza,Luciano.... 2-2 1-1 0-0 0 1 1 4 5 0 1 0 0 9
20 Lawrence,Marcus..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
33 Barone,Kyle......... 2-5 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 1 4 1 1 0 0 16
TEAM................ 2 2 4
Totals.............. 28-49 1-6 25-37 9 32 41 17 82 17 15 4 7 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 15-25 60.0% 2nd Half: 13-24 54.2% Game: 57.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-5 20.0% 2nd Half: 0-1 0.0% Game: 16.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 7-12 58.3% 2nd Half: 18-25 72.0% Game: 67.6% 6,2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Randy McCall, Mike Reed, Winston Stith
Technical fouls: Seattle-None. Idaho-None.
Attendance: 1287
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Seattle....................... 28 44 - 72
Idaho......................... 38 44 - 82
Points in the paint-SU 30,UI 44. Points off turnovers-SU 14,UI 8.
2nd chance points-SU 15,UI 11. Fast break points-SU 4,UI 6.
Bench points-SU 41,UI 17. Score tied-4 times. Lead changed-8 times.
Last FG-SU 2nd-01:02, UI 2nd-01:07.
Largest lead-SU by 3 1st-11:52, UI by 13 1st-00:54.
