Mar. 11—BOISE — Nobody is enjoying late-night “Starch Madness After Dark” more than the Idaho men’s basketball team.
Idaho’s Kolton Mitchell is healthy now — or healthy enough to be the driving force that put the Vandals in the Big Sky Conference Tournament championship.
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After dealing with a back injury that held him out late in the regular season, Mitchell scored a game-high 26 points in 37 minutes of play as the No. 7 seed Idaho Vandals upset the No. 3 seed Eastern Washington Eagles 81-68 in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals Tuesday night at the Idaho Central Arena in Boise.
The sophomore point guard from Coeur d’Alene dribbled out the last seconds of the game, waving to the crowd to start shouting and after the final buzzer, and stamped the Idaho sticker into the championship spot on the Starch Madness big board.
Idaho is headed to the Big Sky championship game for the first time since 1993, when it played Boise State. The last conference tournament championship that the Vandals went to was in 2014, while Idaho was in the Western Athletic Conference.
How it played out
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The Vandals lost the opening tipoff and then stole the ball from a bad pass from former Lewis-Clark State and current Eastern Washington forward Alton Hamilton, which led to a fast-break layup for Idaho’s Isaiah Brickner. Idaho led for most of the first half, except for a 5-4 Eagles lead with 17 minutes, 22 seconds to go in the period.
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Idaho went on a 9-0 run from 16:01 to 14:08 left in the half.
The run was sparked by a turnaround jumper from Idaho guard Biko Johnson, followed up with a stepback jumper from Mitchell, then a Brickner driving layup and a stepback 3-pointer from Mitchell.
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The Vandals led 17-7 at that point.
Idaho then took its largest lead of the game at 23-10 with 11:58 left in the half.
Eastern Washington would fight back, but with both teams in the bonus and eventually the double-bonus late, it was a free-throw fest near the end of the half.
Idaho went 8-of-14 from the line, and Eastern Washington went 8-of-13 in the half and Mitchell totaled 10 first-half points.
The Vandals held the lead for the entirety of the second half, although the Eagles got within three points with 11:43 to go.
With 7:57 left in regulation, Biko Johnson had a traditional three-point play with a spinning layup and a free throw to put the Vandals up 61-50.
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Mitchell came out in the second half firing. He hit a deep 3-pointer to give the Vandals a 13-point lead at 66-53 with 6:33 left in the half.
Jackson Rasmussen nailed a 3-pointer from the wing to give the Vandals a 69-58 lead with 5:01 to go in regulation. He then hit another from the right wing to make it 72-60 with 3:15 left, following a jumper from Eastern Washington’s Kiree Huie.
Near the end of the game, the Vandals closed out the contest on free throws.
Mitchell hit the last two free throws to end the game.
Standout players
Mitchell was huge for the Vandals offensively on Tuesday. He shot 9-of-15 from the field, shot 3-of-7 from the 3-point line and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. He also had team-highs in rebounds (7) and assists (3).
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Rassmussen totaled 16 points for the Vandals. He hit two big 3s late to assist the win.
Rasmussen shot 6-of-9 from the field and was a sharp 3-of-3 from long range. He also grabbed six rebounds.
Johnson added 11 points for the Vandals. He shot 5-of-7 from the line and grabbed four rebounds and passed two assists.
Brickner was the other Vandal in double-digits with 10 points. He shot 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.
What’s next?
Idaho advances to the Big Sky Conference Tournament finals for the first time since 1993, and the first time in any conference tournament championship since 2014.
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The Vandals will play against the No. 6 Montana Grizzlies at 8:30 p.m. Pacific today at Idaho Central Arena. The championship will be broadcast on ESPN2.
IDAHO (20-14)
Rasmussen 6-9 1-5 16, Rowbury 1-1 0-3 2, Brickner 4-8 2-2 10, Johnson 3-10 5-7 11, Mitchell 9-15 5-5 26, Blassingame 1-4 0-0 2, Payne 2-4 4-4 9, Joba 1-1 3-3 5, Klapper 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-53 20-29 81.
EASTERN WASHINGTON (14-19)
Hamilton 4-6 2-2 10, Huie 9-17 2-6 20, Moses 3-12 4-4 10, Powell 0-1 0-0 0, Scherer 1-5 0-0 3, Anderson 4-11 3-6 12, Rogers 1-2 6-8 8, Radford 0-2 2-2 2, Marquardt 0-2 0-0 0, Thomas 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 23-62 19-28 68.
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Halftime — Idaho 36-28. 3-Point Goals — Idaho 7-21 (Rasmussen 3-3, Mitchell 3-7, Payne 1-3, Brickner 0-1, Blassingame 0-3, Johnson 0-4), Eastern Washington 3-20 (Anderson 1-4, Scherer 1-4, Thomas 1-4, Hamilton 0-1, Powell 0-1, Radford 0-1, Marquardt 0-2, Moses 0-3). Fouled Out — Rowbury, Moses, Rogers. Rebounds — Idaho 28 (Mitchell 7), Eastern Washington 33 (Hamilton, Huie 7). Assists — Idaho 8 (Mitchell 3), Eastern Washington 10 (Moses 6). Total Fouls — Idaho 22, Eastern Washington 23.
Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, [email protected] or on X @TrevorJunt.
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