RENO, Nev. — In four minutes and 39 seconds of the first half of Idaho’s Western Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal matchup against Nevada, the Vandals’ dreams of making it to the NCAA Tournament were shattered. The remaining 25 minutes of play were merely a formality.
After giving up a 13-2 run to open the game, Idaho clawed back in with red-hot outside shooting from Luciano de Souza, putting the Vandals within striking distance of Nevada midway through the first half. The homestanding Wolf Pack led, 27-21, with 9:43 remaining in the period, but all the momentum was with the black-clad Idaho squad.
Wolf Pack guard Brandon Fields, however, had other plans.
In a minute and 14 seconds, Fields drained back-to-back 3-pointers and slammed home a dunk, making for a personal 8-0 run. Add a pair of Luke Babbitt jumpers and all of a sudden, the Vandals trailed by 18 points with 5:04 to play in the first half. Nevada’s advantage would never be less than double digits the rest of the way.
Idaho fell to the Wolf Pack tonight, 87-71, ending a season that has been, for the Vandals, a frustrating campaign of unfulfilled potential.
“We had a lot of adversity this season, but we’ve kept fighting,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “We beat a Top 25 team, we went on the road and won in Utah and I can’t tell you how proud I am of my seniors. There’s so many positives, but it’s still tough to go out like this.”
The Vandals finish the season with a 15-16 record, 6-10 in WAC regular-season play. Nevada (20-11, 11-5 WAC) continues to the semifinals, where they’ll play New Mexico State tomorrow.
On the night, Nevada shot 55 percent from the floor and 55 percent from downtown, while holding Idaho to just 40 and 30 percent, respectively. The Vandals simply couldn’t get the ball in the basket.
The stat sheet tells the tale. After a red-hot 8-for-14 performance from downtown against Hawaii, Steffan Johnson went ice-cold, hitting just one of eight shots from the floor and missing all five attempts from beyond the arc. Mac Hopson shot just 4-for-16 and Shawn Henderson could convert only three of his 11 tries. Another double-double night from Marvin Jefferson — 14 points on 6-11 shooting to go with 10 rebounds — and a career-best 20 points from de Souza couldn’t make up for the lack of backcourt production.
Both teams combined to turn the Lawlor Events Center into a 3-point shooting gallery early. Babbitt opened the scoring with a trey 45 seconds into the game, and nine more would fall in the first 12 minutes of action. In all, the Wolf Pack shot 7-for-11 from downtown in the first half, including three sets of back-to-back buckets — first from 3-point specialist Ray Kraemer, then from Joey Shaw and finally Fields. The Vandals tried valiantly to respond, led by de Souza, but Nevada’s firepower was too much.
“You have to give them credit, they executed their offense, got open looks and knocked them down,” Verlin said.
The second half saw the Wolf Pack put away the game, going on a 13-4 run in the first 3:30 and putting paid to any thoughts of an Idaho comeback.
The loss was the last appearance for four Idaho seniors — de Souza, Hopson, Johnson and Jefferson. Kashif Watson, who remains suspended, has also seen his last action in an Idaho uniform.
Verlin said his five graduating seniors should be remembered not for their second-season slump, but for their success in bringing back respectability to a Vandal team that had experienced little but futility for the last decade.
“This team, they built a foundation for Idaho basketball,” Verlin said. “When I got here, if you’d have told us we’d have had 32 wins in two years, we’d have all taken it. Just being competitive in the WAC is a step forward. They’ve changed the culture to where we expect to field a winning team. That’s how you start a program.”
In the latter stages of the game, Hopson was visibly emotional, and in the postgame press conference, even more so.
“It’s been a pleasure to play here,” Hopson said. “I’ll never forget this experience and I’m so glad I came to the U of I. This program is going in the right direction and me and Luciano and the rest of the seniors, we should all be proud of what we’ve started here. I hope that Vandal Nation remembers us. We deserve that credit.”
Box Score (Final)
Western Athletic Conference
Idaho vs Nevada (03-10-10)
VISITORS: Idaho
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
01 Hopson, Mac......... * 4 16 2 7 5 8 1 4 5 3 15 6 2 0 2 38
03 Henderson, Shawn.... * 3 11 0 0 2 4 4 4 8 3 8 1 0 0 2 29
05 Johnson, Steffan.... * 1 8 0 5 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 1 0 1 32
13 de Souza, Luciano... * 8 12 4 7 0 0 0 1 1 4 20 1 1 0 1 31
53 Jefferson, Marvin... * 6 11 0 0 2 2 4 6 10 3 14 0 0 4 0 29
02 Ledbetter, Jeff..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5
20 Lawrence, Marcus.... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 8
21 Toledo, Luiz........ 2 3 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 5 1 1 0 0 10
33 Barone, Kyle........ 3 5 0 0 1 2 2 5 7 1 7 0 1 1 0 16
34 Blackstock, Travis.. 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2
TM TEAM................ 3 2 5
Totals.............. 27 68 6 20 11 19 14 24 38 18 71 12 7 5 6 200
1st Half 2nd Half Game Totals
TOTAL FG%: 13-33 .394 14-35 .400 27-68 .397
3-Pt. FG%: 4-10 .400 2-10 .200 6-20 .300
F Throw %: 4-7 .571 7-12 .583 11-19 .579
Deadball rebounds: 4
HOME TEAM: Nevada
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player FG FGA FG FGA FT FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00 Fields, Brandon..... * 5 9 3 6 2 3 0 6 6 0 15 4 1 1 1 29
03 Shaw, Joey.......... * 6 9 2 4 0 1 1 4 5 1 14 3 2 0 0 28
05 Babbitt, Luke....... * 8 15 2 3 3 3 2 5 7 0 21 0 1 2 1 34
23 Johnson, Armon...... * 4 10 0 1 5 6 0 3 3 2 13 4 0 0 0 31
44 Hunt, Dario......... * 4 5 0 0 4 5 2 5 7 3 12 1 2 2 0 28
01 Nyeko, Patrick...... 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 7
11 Giles, London....... 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 3 1 1 0 9
12 Fuetsch, Keith...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
14 Cukic, Marko........ 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 0 8
20 Kraemer, Ray........ 3 4 3 4 0 1 0 3 3 1 9 0 0 0 0 19
33 Carp, Adam.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2
43 Olson, Keith........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 4
TM TEAM................
Totals.............. 31 56 10 18 15 21 5 30 35 18 87 17 9 6 2 200
1st Half 2nd Half Game Totals
TOTAL FG%: 17-28 .607 14-28 .500 31-56 .554
3-Pt. FG%: 7-13 .538 3-5 .600 10-18 .556
F Throw %: 6-7 .857 9-14 .643 15-21 .714
Deadball rebounds: 2,1
Date: 03-10-10 Site: Reno, Nev. (Lawlor Events Center) Attendance: 0
Officials: Larry Spaulding; Darron George; Jimmy Casas;
Technical fouls: Idaho-None. Nevada-None.
Score by Periods 1 2 Total
Idaho............... 34 37 - 71
Nevada.............. 47 40 - 87
