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UI guard Biko Johnson blows past Eastern Oregon defender for layup in win over Eastern Oregon | Colton Moore | Argonaut<\/p>\nFor\u00a0Idaho\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team\u00a0second consecutive game, the result came down to the final two possessions, and this one\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0go the Vandals\u2019 way. After a hard-fought battle, Idaho fell to the University of California,\u00a0Bakersfield,\u00a064-63 and finished non-conference play 8-5.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a game where baskets were hard to come by,\u00a0Idaho trailed 62-61\u00a0with under\u00a030 seconds\u00a0remaining. Senior Brody Rowbury, who was the best player for the Vandals, had the ball in his hands with a chance to take the lead. Rowbury finished the game with 20 points and nine rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Using his physicality, Rowbury backed down his defender, spun\u00a0and put up a shot that bounced around the rim before\u00a0dropping in, putting the Vandals up 63-62 with 15 seconds\u00a0remaining.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Vandals, who had been\u00a0very good\u00a0on the defensive end throughout the 40 minutes, needed one more stop. However, junior forward Ronald Jessamy got loose from his defender and drilled a jumper with under two seconds\u00a0remaining\u00a0to give the Roadrunners the win and deal heartbreak to Idaho.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm as efficient defensive play made it difficult to get the ball up the floor. The intensity on both ends resulted in a low-scoring first half, with the Roadrunners holding a 26-20 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Senior guard Biko Johnson, who had been quiet to that point, drilled a long three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 26-23 and build some momentum for Idaho.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Vandals finished the first half 2-13 from beyond the arc and needed to get shots to fall in the second half. That emphasis came to the forefront after Rowbury and Johnson knocked down three long-range shots. Rowbury hit two of them to give Idaho a 32-30 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The balance of Idaho\u2019s offense began to pick\u00a0up with\u00a0their inside-out\u00a0game\u00a0working as outside shots started falling. Redshirt sophomore guard Kolton Mitchell, who was sensational in the Vandals\u2019 overtime win over Cal Poly with 31 points and six assists, was\u00a0quiet\u00a0early and tried to find his rhythm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mitchell got back-to-back baskets to fall, but then the Vandals went\u00a0cold\u00a0and the Roadrunners jumped out to a 42-38 lead. From there, the game went back and forth with neither team building\u00a0a lead larger than six points.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mitchell, Rowbury\u00a0and Johnson all made key plays down the stretch; however, it was not enough in the end. Idaho dropped their final non-conference game and fell to 3-2 in games decided by five points or fewer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
UI guard Biko Johnson blows past Eastern Oregon defender for layup in win over Eastern Oregon | Colton Moore | Argonaut<\/p>\n
Rowbury had an outstanding game, as his scoring, rebounding\u00a0and paint presence made it difficult for the Roadrunners on both ends. Mitchell, after a quiet first half, finished with 17 points and five assists. Johnson added 13 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Idaho has been solid for most of the season.\u00a0The team\u00a0heads into Big Sky Conference play with a foundation built on\u00a0a multipurpose\u00a0offense\u00a0and a\u00a0much-improved\u00a0defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Vandals have also\u00a0dominated on\u00a0the boards, winning the rebounding battle in 11 of their 13 games, including a 35-34 edge against the Roadrunners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Idaho also has some\u00a0questions\u00a0regarding\u00a0its depth and how impactful the bench can be throughout Big Sky play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Vandals will have a break for the holidays before returning to Moscow to begin conference play\u00a0against border\u00a0rivals\u00a0Eastern Washington\u00a0on Saturday, Jan. 3, at 2 p.m.\u00a0in the ICCU Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0game\u00a0will be an emotional game as the Vandals will honor\u00a0Idaho\u2019s\u00a0legendary head coach Don Monson,\u00a0who passed away earlier this year Oct, 1\u00a0\u00a0\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For\u00a0Idaho\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team\u00a0second consecutive game, the result came down to the final two possessions, and this one\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0go…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,58042,9930,17683,33333,15431],"class_list":{"0":"post-111986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news","11":"tag-brody-rowbury","12":"tag-cal-state-bakersfield","13":"tag-idaho-vandals","14":"tag-kolton-mitchell","15":"tag-mens-basketball"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}