Weber State basketball: Idaho spins WSU’s defense for 82-74 victory in Ogden
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- Weber State’s Dyson Koehler (4) shoots a 3-pointer over Idaho’s Tyler Linhardt (22) on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Blaise Threatt (0) attempts a layup against Idaho’s Tyler Linhardt (22) on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Viljami Vartiainen (8) drives past Idaho’s Kyson Rose on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State center Alex Tew, top, dunks against Idaho on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Blaise Threatt, left, rises to shoot against Idaho on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — Any potential good vibes and eyes for hope new lineups may have given Weber State men’s basketball came to a halt quickly Thursday in an 82-74 loss to Idaho at the Dee Events Center.
With a 36-31 halftime lead, Idaho came out from the break and put center Kyson Rose — surprisingly making his first start of the season instead of senior Julius Mims — into left-wing pick and rolls with Tyler Mrus.
The first time, Weber State’s contest was slow and Rose buried a straightaway 3-pointer. The second time, Rose looked past the closeout and threw inside to cutting guard Kolton Mitchell for a layup. Idaho led 41-31 and Weber couldn’t make up the difference over the final 19 minutes.
“It threw us off a little because Mims has been starting … they went the other direction and Rose, to his credit, stepped up and made 3s tonight,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said.
On the heels of losing senior guard Miguel Tomley to a serious health issue, Weber State fell to 2-6 in the Big Sky and lost its sixth straight home game against Division I opponents.
“It’s been a tough week,” Duft said. “We’re just praying for him and his family … so we’re starting it up again.
“I thought we had great passion, great energy, we just made some mistakes.”
Weber State cut that deficit to four points several times until getting it to 64-62 with 6:30 left on a paint bucket from Trevor Hennig.
But despite two straight stops, WSU couldn’t tie or take the lead. Dyson Koehler missed a jumper and Alex Tew got his defender in the air but dropped the ball rising to shoot.
Having given WSU enough chances, Idaho guard Tyler Mrus drained his fourth 3-pointer of the game to push the margin back to two possessions.
The Wildcats didn’t wilt there but still couldn’t close the gap. Mims missed Idaho’s first free throw of the game with 2:06 left but swatted a driving Blaise Threatt at the other end to maintain a 70-66 lead.
That, and Idaho’s next possession, sealed the game.
WSU went to a 1-3-1 extended trap with Marko Sarenac at the top and successfully trapped Idaho into a deflection out of bounds with 7 seconds on the shot clock. On the inbound, Mitchell had the ball in his hands at the end of the clock, and rose for a deep 3 over Tew the center.
It spun hard around the rim, caught the backboard and fell in, making it 73-66 with 1:12 left.
The game hinged entirely on free throws and 3-pointers. Weber State won the paint 36-18 but, though Idaho only shot 36.1% from distance, the Vandals cast up 36 attempts; their 13 makes outdid WSU’s seven.
Idaho made its first 19 free throws and finished 25 of 29; Weber State shot 15 of 24.
“We just made a lot more mistakes than Idaho did, especially defensively,” Duft said. “We’re just making a lot of mistakes on that end of the floor that we haven’t made the last couple of years.”
Threatt led WSU with 19 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Koehler added 13 points and five rebounds, Viljami Vartainen was 3 of 6 from distance for 11 points, and Hennig added 10 points.
Mrus totaled 21 points for Idaho. Kristian Gonzalez scored 14 points, Jack Payne 12 and Tyler Linhardt 11. Rose scored nine on his three 3s.
WSU next plays Eastern Washington at 1 p.m. Saturday.
After an early back and forth, Weber State extended a short lead to 14-8 on a Threatt runner but missed opportunities for more with Idaho missing nine straight field goal attempts.
Payne ended Idaho’s drought on a banked 3 from the right wing to pry off the lid, then made two more triples in succession to put the Vandals ahead 17-14.
Idaho held that lead until Koehler banked in a putback rebound for a 25-23 WSU lead. The Vandals answered by throwing to Linhardt in the post with a mismatch on Hennig, which resulted in a Mims putback rebound and Linhardt going 4 of 4 at the line.
Hennig fouled a 3-point-shooting Gonzalez and he made all three to make Idaho’s run 13-3. The Vandals shot 12 of 12 at the line in the first half and claimed the lead despite going 9 of 26 from the field (to Weber’s 13 of 28).
Nemanja Sarenac got Payne’s bank back with a right-wing 3-point carom to beat the first-half buzzer for Weber State, and Idaho led 36-31.
MISMATCH IN MOSCOW
Weber State women’s basketball (7-11, 4-4) shot just 3 of 15 in the first quarter to trail 23-12 and couldn’t make up the difference in a 77-62 road loss at third-place Idaho (16-5, 7-2).
The Wildcats outscored the Vandals 29-28 over the second and third quarters before Idaho raced to a 10-of-14 shooting mark in the fourth quarter.
Rose Bubakar led Weber with 17 points. Taylor Smith added 16 points and seven rebounds. Kendra Parra added 11 points but managed just 2 of 14 from the field.
Olivia Nelson scored a career-high 30 points for Idaho on 14 of 21 shooting.
WSU next plays at 3 p.m. Saturday at Eastern Washington.
