Idaho edged by Seattle, Umipig

SEATTLE – Seattle U used a 36-28 rebounding advantage to pick up a 76-68 victory over Idaho in men’s basketball action Saturday night at Key Arena.

The Vandals out-shot the Redhawks 52.4 percent to 43.3 percent, but Seattle U took 18 more shots than the Vandals to make up for the shooting deficit. The Redhawks outscored Idaho 19-10 in second-chance points with a 16-8 advantage in offensive rebounds.

“Obviously it’s frustrating because they kicked our tail on the boards tonight,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “That’s the difference in the game. They got 18 more shots than we did and that’s the difference in the game, it’s pretty simple.”

The Vandals drop to 12-17 overall and 5-9 in the Western Athletic Conference with the loss, while Seattle U jumps to 13-14 and 5-9 in the WAC.

Idaho’s Stephen Madison and Connor Hill each scored 18 points but Madison was in foul trouble most of the contest, playing just 21 minutes in the game.

“It always affects you when your best player, the five-time WAC Player of the Week, gets in foul trouble, but it is what it is,” Verlin said. “We have to learn to play without Stephen Madison in the lineup. It was a big part of it but we’ve got to respond to that.”

Seattle U’s Isiah Umipig scored 36 points on 12-of-22 shooting including 8 for 18 from 3-point range.

“We gave him way too many open looks in the first half, we were just fortunate they didn’t go in,” Verlin said of Umipig’s 3-of-11 3-point performance before halftime. “We tried all week to deny him the ball. I was disappointed in our defense tonight.”

The Vandals return to action for their final two regular season games next week, visiting Chicago State on Thursday and Kansas City on Saturday. The Western Athletic Conference tournament is March 13-16 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.