Jack Payne’s 18 points not enough in Idaho’s loss to Idaho State 69-65
MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho State’s 36-32 halftime lead Thursday was the measure of the game as the Bengals and Idaho battled to a 33-all second-half stalemate during ISU’s 69-65 win over the Vandals.
But there was considerably more drama involved in the final half than just trading buckets.
The Vandals came out strongly in the second half to quickly seize the lead and run it to 45-39 on Tyler Mrus’ corner 3-pointer with little more than three minutes gone.
“I like the way we came out in the second half,” Idaho coach Alex Pribble said.
A spotlighted rivalry of local products, though, that had gone all Idaho’s way in the first half did a 180-degree turn after halftime. The Vandals, with Kolton Mitchell, Titus Yearout and Kristian Gonzalez sharing the work when Idaho was in man-to-man defense, thoroughly frustrated former Central Valley star and Greater Spokane League and Washington 4A Player of the Year Dylan Darling. The redshirt sophomore was held to five points.
Darling, who had a medical redshirt year at Washington State before transferring to ISU this season, had Mitchell as a defensive assignment. The redshirt freshman from Lake City High School, who played his freshman year with the Bengals before getting hurt 10 games into the season, outscored Darling 11-0 early and owned a 15-5 advantage at halftime on the strength of four 3-pointers.
But in the second half, Darling found his rhythm and scored 14 points to hit his season average of 19.2 while Mitchell was held scoreless.
“Dylan Darling is a true three-level scorer” who can hit 3s, score at the rim and score from midrange, according to Pribble.
Jack Payne took up the slack for the Vandals, however, and it was nearly enough. He led the Vandals with 18 points and had 12 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. He also added an assist, a steal and a block.
Pribble noted Payne, a redshirt sophomore, is only a year ahead of Mitchell.
“If you are talking about the future of Idaho basketball, you are seeing it,” he said of the two.
Julius Mims, one of Idaho’s two seniors, with Kyson Rose, has battled injuries all season. Nonetheless, he led all rebounders with 13, including six offensive boards.
“I was proud of our offensive rebounding,” Pribble said.
The Vandals could not match the Bengals’ inside game, though, and were outscored 40-18 in the paint. Connor Hollenbeck and Evan Otten did much of the damage there with 15 and eight points, respectively, for the Bengals.
ISU grabbed the lead for good (65-62) with three minutes to play on Jake O’Neil’s 3-pointer.
Badly in need of a defensive stop, the Vandals saw the Bengals score again as Otten sneaked a shot by Mims’ block attempt.
Payne cut the deficit to 67-65, with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. ISU, however, stretched the lead to four again after Payne deliberately fouled Darling with six seconds to go, and Darling buried two free throws,
With the win, ISU (14-13, 9-7) takes over third place in the Big Sky Conference. They trail Montana (20-8, 13-2) and Northern Colorado (21-8, 13-3).
Idaho slips to 12-17 for the season, 7-9 in the Big Sky. The Vandals are tied for sixth with Northern Arizona.
Idaho’s final home game is Saturday against Weber State.
Pribble was confident his team can recover from the near miss against ISU.
“They are going to have to get reset quickly,” he said of his players. “But they understand the importance of it.”
Women
Idaho State 75, Idaho 69: Olivia Nelson and Jenni Aadland each scored 19 points for the Vandals (17-10, 9-7), but it was not enough to get the road win over the Bengals (12-15, 7-9) in Pocatello.
Idaho State countered with a balanced attack of five players in double figures, led by Tasia Jordan’s 16 points.
The Vandals travel to Weber State on Saturday.