The Seattle University men's basketball team could not slow down an Idaho squad coming into Sunday's contest with positive momentum after defeating Oregon State Friday, as the Vandals shot 55.1 percent from the field on their way to a 73-62 victory over the Redhawks in an afternoon contest at KeyArena.
Sterling Carter (Seattle, Wash.) hit five three-pointers as he led the Redhawks with a season-high 19 points, while Aaron Broussard (Federal Way, Wash.) finished with 15 points, four rebounds, and two steals. Despite pulling down 22 offensive rebounds, Seattle U scored only eight second-chance points as the team shot only 35.5 percent (27-of-76) from the field, including 6-of-26 from behind the three-point line.
After Chad Rasmussen (University Place, Wash.) hit a jumper to force the fifth tie of the first half at 13-13, Idaho scored the next seven points, five of them by Matt Borton, to pull ahead, 20-13, with 11:39 left in the first half. Behind by nine late in the half, Clarence Trent (Tacoma, Wash.) capped a 6-0 Redhawk run with back-to-back layups to pull within three at 36-33, but Borton hit a three-pointer and Stephen Madison added a jumper to give the Vandals a 43-37 advantage at halftime.
Idaho (6-4) put the game away with 13 unanswered points over a seven-minute span in which the Redhawks missed all seven field goal attempts and committed five turnovers. Carter scored eight unanswered points to pull the Redhawks to within 13 at 62-49 with 7:45 remaining in the second half, but the Vandals went 6-for-8 from the free throw line in the final two-and-a-half minutes to hold off the Redhawks.
"There were times where we made miscues, and they took advantage of those errors. From an offensive standpoint, we need to get to the free throw line more, but we were not able to do that today," Seattle U head coach Cameron Dollar said. "We did not play particularly well today, especially with this being a home game; we just need to do a better job."
Madison shot 5-for-8 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line in scoring a team-high 17 points, plus he pulled down seven rebounds, tied with Kyle Barone for the team lead in rebounding for the game. Djim Bandoumel and Borton each finished with 13 points, and Deremy Geiger contributed to the victory with four points, five rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
The Redhawks (2-5) hit the road for the next two games, starting with a contest at Arkansas State Wednesday, Dec. 14, at 7:05 p.m. local time (5:05 p.m. Pacific time). The broadcast on 710 ESPN Seattle with Dave Grosby and Gary Hill, Jr., will be tape-delayed until 7 p.m. Pacific time. After facing Utah State in Logan, Utah, next Saturday, Dec. 17, the Redhawks will return home to face Virginia at KeyArena Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 7:10 p.m., in a game to be televised on ROOT Sports.