Basketball team goes stagnant in final 4 minutes at Idaho
The USU men’s basketball team doesn’t often lose back-to-back games, but the Aggies will mark their recent road trip as one to forget after a disappointing loss Saturday.
Sophomore Danny Berger hit a free throw with 45 seconds remaining to give USU a one-point lead, but Idaho sophomore forward Stephen Madison hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession — his only 3-pointer of the night — to propel the Vandals over the Aggies 57-54 at the Cowan Spectrum inside the Kibbie Dome.
USU head coach Stew Morrill was not pleased with his team’s performance in the final minutes.
“You can’t wait for someone else to do it,” he said of USU’s struggle to take open shots. “Your shot isn’t going down. So, what? Try and make one. Madison wasn’t making shots, but he made the big one. We didn’t have near enough courage tonight. That was the difference.”
USU (10-10, 2-3 WAC) had several opportunities in the final minutes of the game to extend its lead, but the Aggies committed four turnovers and failed to hit a field goal in the final four minutes. Sophomore Ben Clifford hit a baseline jumper for USU’s final field goal of the game with 4:13 remaining.
“You’ve got to make some plays with the game on the line,” Morrill said. “We didn’t dare fail. Preston Medlin was the only one who dared make a play. You’ve got to be willing to step up and shoot the ball when you are open and come down and not turn it over three times in a row. There’s just no excuse. It’s about as frustrated as I’ve been in a long time.”
After Madison’s go-ahead 3-point basket, Brockeith Pane drove to the basket but the senior guard committed an offensive foul in the attempt. Mansa Habeeb hit a free throw to push Idaho’s (10-9, 3-2 WAC) lead 57-54. Sophomore guard Medlin tried to send the game into overtime, but he missed a well-contested 3-point attempt.
“We played on their court well enough to win,” Morrill said. “We hold them to a low percentage, we execute our game plan and then when it comes down the stretch, the last number of minutes, we just quit playing. It’s ridiculous.”
It was a back-and-forth battle in the first half, as neither team held a large lead. A layup from Pane, who finished with six points and one assist, gave USU its largest lead of the first half 23-17.
USU held its largest lead of the game at 39-30, just over four minutes into the second half, after Medlin made a layup, drew a foul and converted the free throw. But turnovers eventually proved costly and let the Vandals back into the game.
“It was to good to see that we came to play — for at least 37 minutes. We just couldn’t get there,” Berger said. “No one stepped up and made that big play. One or two big plays, and we win that game. We just didn’t get it done.”
Aside from Medlin, who scored a game-high 17 points to lead USU, Berger was the only other Aggie to finish in double-digit scoring with 10 points.
“I’ve been struggling a lot,” Berger said. “You’ve just got to try and keep shooting, keep trying to score. I was in a slump, and I was just trying to be aggressive. Tonight I did a little better.”
Senior forward Djim Bandoumel provided a big spark off the bench for the Vandals as he led the team in scoring with 16 points to go with six rebounds.
USU’s bench only scored seven points between three players.
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu