Vandals put away Jackrabbits late

Idaho's first field goal of the game against South Dakota State was a 3-pointer by Mike Scott, and it's only fitting that another long range ball by the senior guard in the final seconds sealed the win.

With the shot clock running down and his team leading by two points with 26 seconds to play, Scott dribbled around a screen and nailed a go-ahead long ball from the left wing, giving his team a five-point lead.

"I was happy it went in," Scott said. "I had confidence in myself, I knew it was going in, but I knew it was a big shot and we needed it so I was relieved once it went in."

SDSU's Deondre Parks added a layup with 6 seconds to play and Scott knocked in a pair of free throws as the Vandals defeated the Jackrabbits 82-77 on Monday night at Memorial Gym.

Scott finished with a game-high 23 points, none bigger than his 3-point dagger. His big play came just one possession after backcourt mate Perrion Callandret hit an equally clutch 3-pointer from nearly the same spot to give the Vandals a 77-75 lead with 56 seconds to play.

"I jumped on him in the locker room," Scott said of Callandret. "Everybody was so happy about my shot but it was really his shot that really got us going. It lifted me up to hit a shot. I'm glad he hit that one, it was a big shot and we needed it."

Idaho (2-0) was in control most of the game but went cold from the field in the second half, at one point shooting just 30 percent as a team. The Vandals struggled to find scoring in the second half, and a combination of foul trouble and the inside presence of Jackrabbits big man Cody Larson resulted in them actually trailing 69-63 with five minutes left.

"I just thought we fought, we fought hard," Idaho coach Don Verlin said. "They got up six, I don't know what the time was, but I thought we came up with big defensive stops and when we needed to, we made the extra pass and got the ball in the right guy's hands. Mike Scott and Perrion Callandret jumped up and made some big shots and Bira Seck rebounded the hell out of the ball.

Callendret finished with seven points in 28 minutes, while Seck recorded a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Idaho outrebounded SDSU (0-2) 40-33, including a 16-9 advantage on the offensive glass.

"That's our main focus, me and him (Arkadiy Mkrtychyan) every day, I talk to him every day, we gotta rebound every day," Beck said. "We hang out every day and that's all we talk about - rebounds."

Scott and sophomore guard Sekou Wiggs sparked an early 11-0 run to give Idaho an early 14-5 lead less than four minutes into the game. The two guards started out a combined 5-5 from the field, with Scott hitting back-to-back 3-pointers and Wiggs muscling his way into the paint for three consecutive layups.

The scoring slowed down when Wiggs and Scott - along with Seck and Ty Egbert shortly after - committed their second personal fouls with about nine minutes to play in the first half, leading 31-23. From then on the Jackrabbits kept themselves in the game by hitting 9 of their 11 free throw attempts, taking full advantage of the Vandals early foul trouble.

"It was huge because I was subbing guys in and out," Verlin said. "I had my post guys with three and four (fouls) then Egbert fouls out and (Paulin) Mpawe was down. I thought Seck did a good job staying out of foul trouble, especially in the second half."

Idaho score ten points the rest of the half, two of them coming on a put-back dunk by Paulin Mpawe in the final seconds, giving his team a 41-36 halftime lead.

Michael-Shawn Dugar can be reached at 208-883-4629, by email to mdugar@dnews.com or on Twitter to @Mikedelaphante.