Gavin Gilmore tries to recover the ball in the Redhawks' 87-85 loss to the Idaho Vandals at KeyArena Jan. 30. The Redhawks fell to the Vandals in Idaho today 82-72. Mary Bryant-Likens | The Spectator

After an extended homestretch, the Seattle University Redhawks took to the road last night, falling 82-72 to the Idaho Vandals in Moscow. It was the third game played in just six days for the Redhawks, and the team’s second loss to Idaho this season.

Cervante Burrell was someone the Idaho Vandals “had to stop,” according to Vandals’ coach Don Verlin.

And stop him they did. Just 2 minutes 50 seconds into the game and Burrell, Seattle U’s starting point guard, was back on the bench with his third personal foul. He would sit the remainder of the half before finally fouling out in the last minutes of the game with no points on the night.

“They’re so different from what we play night in, night out,” Verlin said of Seattle’s playing style compared to the WAC. “Seattle is hard to play because they play a million different lineups, your matchups are constantly changing—a couple times tonight, we’ve got Mac Hopson on Garcia because they’re big, and the next two minutes down the road in the game, they’re small and we’ve got Marvin Jefferson on a small guy.”

With their starter on the bench, the Redhawks were able to keep it close in the beginning before Idaho pulled ahead with a 18-5 run over a six-minute period. Surprisingly, Seattle U didn’t have a turnover until the 14:19 mark.

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The Redhawks let the game escape them by a narrow two points Saturday night at KeyArena. Photo by Mary Bryant-Likens | The Spectator

With a rowdy crowd of 4,183 in attendance, Seattle U fell to the Idaho Vandals with a final score of 87-85.

Losing by just two points, the game came down to the final seconds and a last-ditch effort to secure the win. With a precious .4 of a second added back to the clock and the Vandals missing their shots on the line, Charles Garcia had the chance to score the winning bucket. Chuck, ball in hand, chose to dribble, running out the clock.

A low-scoring game to start, it was all defense on both sides. With the possessions lasting nearly the entire shot-clock and both teams putting the press on early, it looked like it was going to come down to shots made at the line.

The first half totals reflected some of the Redhawks’ deficiencies: turnovers and three-point shots. Idaho managed to nail 7 of 11 three-pointers attempted, with Seattle U’s Chris Gweth sinking both of the Redhawks’ meager 2 of 11 three-pointers.

Turning over the ball a whopping 19 times in the first, Seattle U was finally able to get control and lessened the stat by more than 50 percent in the second. But the three-pointers wouldn’t stick and ultimately turned cost Seattle U the game.

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