Seniors go out winners

Steffan Johnson won't soon forget his final game in a University of Idaho uniform at Cowan Spectrum.

It's probably safe to say Vandal fans won't either.

The senior drilled eight 3-pointers and dropped 28 points on Hawaii to lead the Vandals to a 78-69 win over Hawaii on Saturday and lock down the No. 7 seed for the UI in this week's Western Athletic Tournament.

"I just wanted to finish with a bang really," Johnson said. "You know, senior night - I wanted to make it a memorable night. I told Mac (Hopson) when we were warming up ... we were going to come out and put on a show for the fans. And that's what we did."

Johnson, who was one of five Vandal seniors honored before tipoff, shot 9 of 16 from the floor, including 8 of 14 from 3-point range, the most 3's ever allowed by Hawaii.

"We've kind of been expecting that from him all year," Idaho's Shawn Henderson said. "It felt good to be a part of it. It felt good to watch it. It was unbelievable really. I'm in the game (and) I think I'm getting more hyped than he is. He was hitting shots, I was waving at the crowd and everything. It was good."

In what has been overall a disappointing season after a promising 2008-09 campaign, the win gives the Vandals an extra momentum boost as they head into the WAC Tournament.

"I really believe we're a team that can make a run in the tournament," Idaho coach Don Verlin said. "Like I told our guys afterwards, it's the team that plays best for 40 minutes now. It's not the team that plays best for four months.

"I really believe anybody can get hot and upset anybody in our tournament and we've got to go and do everything we can to win that first-round game."

Idaho has plenty to be confident about. Verlin said his team moved the ball around perhaps as best as they have during his two-season tenure in Moscow.

And it started with the seniors. Mac Hopson dished out a career-high 11 assists, didn't commit a single turnover, and added 15 points. Forward Luciano de Souza hit three 3-pointers and scored nine points, while center Marvin Jefferson pulled in a team-high seven rebounds.

"It was huge tonight," Verlin said. "It was a great way to go out. It's something that will stay with these seniors for the rest of their lives."

Idaho was forced to pick up the win without its second-leading scorer, guard Kashif Watson, who was suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team prior to the game. In his absence, the Vandals turned to Henderson, who had averaged less than 14 minutes a game coming into the contest. He delivered by scoring a season-high 10 points. Verlin hasn't said whether Watson will rejoin the team at the WAC tournament. If not, Henderson is ready to pick up where he and his team left off Saturday night.

"That's been our whole goal this whole year - to play well at the right time and there can't be any other time that's better than right before you go to the WAC Tournament," Johnson said. "We just need to keep our momentum and our intensity up going into this tournament, and we have a real good chance of doing well."

If the Vandals are to make a run in the WAC tournament and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament field of 64, they will have a tough road. They open Thursday against No. 2 seeded Nevada at 6 p.m., and, should they win, will face the winner of the No. 3 New Mexico State and No. 6 San Jose State on Friday at 9 p.m.

Devin Rokyta can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 230, or by e-mail at drokyta@dnews.com.