Rough return: Vandals fall to hard-nosed Cougars in first NCAA tournament game since 1990

From wire and local reports

OKLAHOMA CITY — It its first NCAA tournament game since 1990, the Idaho Vandals jumped out to a 10-7 lead over the Houston Cougars, the fifth overall seed in the 68-team field.

Then, Houston became Houston.

The second-seeded Cougars outscored Idaho 41-14 over the next 15 minutes, and went on to beat the 15th-seeded Vandals 78-47 in a South Region first-round game Thursday night at Paycom Center.

The Vandals (21-15) qualified for the NCAAs by winning four games in five days to win the Big Sky championship, despite being seeded seventh in the conference tournament.

"Not the result we were looking for, obviously, but at this point I'm just filled with an extreme sense of pride and gratitude," third-year Idaho coach Alex Pribble said. "I think our guys really battled to put themselves in a position where they could play in March Madness. They played seven games in 13 days leading up to this, an emotionally draining run through their conference tournament. You know, you get paired up with a team like Houston, I think a lot of teams would have kind of backed away, and I don't think our guys did that at all. I think they fought for 40 minutes. I thought they gave everything they had. They emptied the tanks, and I'm just really proud of them."

"I would say we came out in attack mode," Idaho guard Biko Johnson said. "We were ready. We were ready to fight, ready to compete, and we were just standing together in the first four minutes, which is why the score was what it was."

Kolton Mitchell, a redshirt sophomore from Lake City who suffered two broken ribs and a bruised lung in a game one month ago, hit 3 of 6 3-pointers and scored 14 points for Idaho. He was the only Vandal in double figures.

"The atmosphere was great," Mitchell said. "It was sweet to be able to play in an arena like this, but once you're on the court I feel like it's the same anywhere where you are playing. The hoop is still the same and everything, so once you get in that zone, it feels like just like basketball."

Kingston Flemings scored 18 points and Emanuel Sharpe added 16 for Houston (29-6), which will play No. 10 seed Texas A&M in the second round on Saturday. The Aggies beat Saint Mary's 63-50 on Thursday.

Freshman center Chris Cenac Jr. had a career-high 18 rebounds for Houston, which lost to Florida in last year's final.

"It's hard to make this tournament. It's really hard," said Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, who formerly coached at Washington State. "There are so, so many good teams that don't get a chance to play in this. Coach Pribble's kids were well-coached. They had a good plan. They fought. They played really hard, and they scrapped."

Houston led 48-24 at the break. Flemings, who made all six of his shots from the field, led the Cougars' attack with 14 points while Sharp (12 points) made four of five shots, including three 3-pointers.

Flemings, a freshman, credited the defense with igniting the offense.

"That's what always happens," he said. "Defense and rebounding, and then we can start scoring on the offensive end. Offense is going to follow the defense. I think once we started getting stops and kills, that's really when our offense started exploding in the first half."

The Vandals made eight of 30 shots (26%) and didn't score for nearly 10 minutes of the first half. Houston extended the lead to 67-38 on a short jumper by Flemings with 7:12 left in the game.

Houston played a strong all-around game, shooting 50% from the field and 53% from beyond the arc. The Cougars also outrebounded Idaho 47-32 and outscored the Vandals 36-13 in the paint.

Sampson faced Idaho seven times when he was the coach at Washington State from 1987-94. He won three and lost four.

"Congratulations to those guys, I wish them nothing but the best going forward," Sampson said.

NO. 5 HOUSTON 78, IDAHO 47

        FG    FT    Reb            

IDAHO    Min    M-A    M-A    O-T    A    PF    PTS

Rasmussen    32    2-8    1-3    2-4    1    1    5

Rowbury    29    1-3    1-2    0-4    1    3    3

Brickner    27    1-9    2-3    0-3    2    0    4

Johnson    30    3-11    0-1    0-6    2    3    8

Mitchell    29    4-7    3-4    1-3    1    2    14

Blassingame    21    3-6    2-2    1-3    0    3    8

Joba    11    0-4    0-0    0-1    1    1    0

Payne    9    1-4    0-0    0-0    0    0    3

Klapper    8    1-2    0-0    1-3    0    0    2

Sevilla    3    0-1    0-0    0-1    0    0    0

Steele    1    0-1    0-0    1-1    0    0    0

Totals    200    16-56    9-15    6-29    8    13    47

Percentages: FG .286, FT .600.

3-Point Goals: 6-30, .200 (Mitchell 3-6, Johnson 2-8, Payne 1-4, Blassingame 0-1, Klapper 0-1, Rowbury 0-1, Brickner 0-3, Joba 0-3, Rasmussen 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: None.

Blocked Shots: 5 (Mitchell 2, Brickner, Joba, Rasmussen).

Turnovers: 9 (Blassingame 3, Brickner 3, Johnson, Mitchell, Sevilla).

Steals: 5 (Mitchell 2, Brickner, Johnson, Rowbury).

Technical Fouls: None.

        FG    FT    Reb            

HOUSTON    Min    M-A    M-A    O-T    A    PF    PTS

Tugler    25    5-13    3-4    1-4    0    1    13

Cenac    24    2-4    2-2    1-18    0    2    7

Flemings    28    8-12    2-2    0-6    4    2    18

Sharp    21    6-7    1-1    0-4    2    3    16

Uzan    33    5-13    0-0    0-3    3    1    12

Miller    24    4-9    0-1    0-1    0    2    10

McCarty    16    1-2    0-0    0-3    0    2    2

Sakho    12    0-0    0-1    3-3    0    1    0

Walker    11    0-1    0-0    0-1    1    0    0

Harwell    3    0-0    0-0    0-0    0    0    0

Lath    3    0-1    0-0    0-1    0    1    0

Totals    200    31-62    8-11    5-44    10    15    78

Percentages: FG .500, FT .727.

3-Point Goals: 8-15, .533 (Sharp 3-3, Miller 2-3, Uzan 2-6, Cenac 1-2, McCarty 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 3. Team Turnovers: 1.

Blocked Shots: 1 (Tugler).

Turnovers: 6 (Flemings 2, Miller, Sharp, Uzan, Walker).

Steals: 8 (Flemings 2, Cenac, Harwell, Miller, Sharp, Tugler, Walker).

Technical Fouls: None.

Idaho    24    23    —    47

Houston    48    30    —    78

A_13,815 (18,203).

    KYLE PHILLIPS/Associated Press Idaho guard Isaiah Brickner (5) tries to push past Houston guard Mercy Miller, left, and Chris Cenac Jr., during the first half Thursday in Oklahoma City.