Bears Knock Off Pre-Season Conference Favorite, Idaho 81-77

Sunday, December 31

Greeley, Colo.

2pm

University of Northern Colorado

11-4, 2-0

University of Idaho

9-5, 1-1

Idaho

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Dean Popejoy

12/31/2017 7:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Spight and Davis combine for 53 points to lead the way.

By: Kurt Maddox, UNCBears.com

Greeley, Colo.— Andre Spight went for 28 and Jordan Davis 25 to lead the Northern Colorado men to an 81-77 win over visiting Idaho in a classic heavyweight battle that featured 16 lead changes. The Bears opened conference play 2-0 for the second straight year with their first-ever win against Idaho and move to 11-4 overall.

How It Happened

The game's opening minutes served a preview for the game as the two teams battled to a near standstill through the first quarter of the half until Andre Spight hit two-straight threes to put the Bears up 15-8. Tanner Morgan, who tied his career-high of 13 set versus Eastern Washington in the conference opener, finished a fast break to give the Bears a nine-point advantage and it looked like UNC might run away with the contest.

Idaho answered with a 7-0 run and pulled within two before taking their first lead since the 16-minute mark at 21-20. And the ping-pong match commenced- the teams swapped the lead eight times and knotted the game four other times before the break. The Bears finished the half on a 7-3 run to take a 37-35 lead into the locker room.

Spight, who led all scorers with 13 in the first half, continued his hot hand by sinking a trey to open up the second half. The Vandals pushed back with a 7-2 run to overtake the lead 43-42. The back and forth continued as the Bears tripled up the Vandals 12-4 in the next three minutes to open up a seven-point advantage with 12:31 to play.

The Vandals came back and scored eight straight to go back up by one, 58-57. That would be the last lead of the game for the visitors. With the scored tied at 65, UNC went on 12-3 run via seven by Davis and five by Anthony Johnson. JD scored seven of the last 16 points for the Bears but it was Spight and Morgan who sealed the victory with clutch, last-minute free throws. Both players hit two freebies each in the final 12 seconds when Idaho wouldn't go away.

Game Changer
Spight followed his double-double in the conference opener (21pts, 10rbs) with another dominant performance tonight against preseason Big Sky favorite Idaho. The redshirt senior went eight for 18 from the field and hit six of his seven free throws to score 28, which ties a career high. Spight also finished with three assists and two boards on the night.

Key Stat
UNC forced 13 turnovers and converted those into 17 points. On the other end, the Bears protected the ball and only coughed up eight turnovers, five below their season average. The Vandals only capitalized with five points off UNC turnovers, giving the Bears a 12-point advantage in the category.

In Their Words

Head Coach Jeff Linder
Opening Statement
"In order to be a championship team, you have to beat championship-level teams. Even though we are only two games into the conference, you had to scratch and claw to beat a good team. We have a lot of respect for Idaho and coach Verlin and their players. They are one of the hardest teams in the country if you are trying to prepare after one day. I thought the team had an unbelievable approach yesterday…You have to protect your home court to be one of the better teams in the league. Our guys approach over the last two days is what really helped us. Our guys' resiliency is the one thing and they have shown that over the course of the last 10 games. They are really playing for one another. Hopefully, when we are not playing on New Year's Eve, this is too good of a team for people not to come out and support these guys."

On the back and forth game
"Luckily with our non-conference schedule, we were prepared for those situations. It was like a heavyweight title fight. You are not going to just put away Idaho. They have too many good players and they are too well coached. They have too much experience - that is the oldest team in the league. They have been in every situation. They are not going to just give in and you have to go beat them. For our guys to get that lead up nine with a few minutes to go and then to hold on, you have to give them (Idaho) credit for really making us sweat but we did what good teams are supposed to do and finish games. You hit from the foul line and get some timely stops. It was a great collective effort for 40 minutes."

Redshirt Senior Tanner Morgan
On how tough the game was
"We just knew they were going to be physical. This is our house, but they came in here and acted like it was their place. They had a kind of swagger to them. We knew they were a good team and try to physical with us but we know we are the better team when we play more together. If we kept sticking to our game, they would eventually fall apart and that is what happened down the stretch."

On the back and forth nature of the game
"You never get too high or too low. You have to just stick to what you know and coach said before the game to stick to our training with all the hours put in over the last however many months and over Christmas break when no one else has been here but we have every day. We fell back on that and it helped get the win."

Redshirt Senior Andre Spight
On the back and forth nature of the game

"We knew coming in that everyone is going to have their runs as basketball is a back and forth game. Usually, one team doesn't dominate the whole game. We just keep sticking to our game plan and eventually, we came out with the W."

Career High Take Two
Tanner Morgan bested his career high in the win over Eastern Washington Friday by scoring 13. Morgan repeated the feat tonight with almost the same exact stat line. The redshirt senior also set a career high for minutes played (32) and tied most field goals made in a game with five.

Notable Stats

Entering the game the most lead changes in a game for the Bears was nine. The two squads nearly doubled that mark with 16 lead changes against the Vandals.
Both teams pulled down seven offensive boards, but UNC outscored Idaho 11-7 in second chance points. The four point difference was the difference in the game
The one-two punch of Spight and Davis resulted in another win for the Bears. The two guards combined for 53 of UNC's 81 points. The duo shot 17-of-37 (45.9%) from the field and made a combined 12 free throws.
Defending Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Jonah Radebaugh's lock down defense held Preseason All-Big Sky team selection Victor Sanders to 5-of-15 shooting. Sanders notched his season average of 19 points but had to earn almost half (eight) from the charity stripe.

What's Ahead
Northern Colorado kicks off the New Year on the road in Montana where they'll take on two of the five remaining unbeaten teams in Big Sky play. The Bears meet Montana State (9-6/2-0) for a 7 p.m. tip on January 4 and then travel I-90 to Montana (9-5/2-0) for a 7 p.m. tip January 6.
The Bears are back in town for a three-game stretch starting January 11 as Weber State comes to town. Idaho State visits Bank of Colorado Arena the 13^that 2 pm and the homestand finishes up the 20^th with a 7 p.m. tip versus North Dakota. Tickets are available at UNCBears.com, at the UNC Box Office M-F from Noon-5pm or at 970.351.1679 during business hours. January 2^nd through the 5^th the office is open from noon to 5 pm and the ticket office will be back to normal hours January 8^th which is 10-5pm.