PAGE 6 fEbruAry 27, 2015

Idaho women’s basketball fell 81-68 at Montana Thursday.

uiArGonAut.com

In spite of being the 2011 Idaho 5A Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year, Connor Hill didn’t receive much at-

tention coming out of high school.Washington State showed interest in

Hill, but the program wanted him as a preferred walk-on rather than a scholar-ship player.

Idaho coach Don Verlin took a chance and offered Hill a full-ride schol-arship to play for the Vandals. Four years later, Hill is Idaho’s leading scorer and career leader in 3-pointers made.

“I’m just thankful for the coaches, that coach (Don) Verlin gave me the op-portunity to come here, because there were a lot of teams and programs that didn’t think I was quite good enough,” Hill said. “They’re like ‘He’s a good shooter, he’s a good player, but can he be successful at D I?’ And for me, I always had confidence. I thought I could play at the D I level for sure.”

Hill is one of three Idaho seniors heading into the final game of the season. Hill, Mike Scott and Bira Seck play in their final men’s basketball game in Moscow Saturday in Memorial Gym against Montana State.

Hill, originating from Post Falls, Idaho, is the only Idaho native on the

Long journey to Idaho coming to an end for Seck

Hill to launch last 3-pointers at home

One year ago, senior Mike Scott stepped into the men’s basketball starting lineup

in place of a banged up Glen Dean after coming off the bench all season.

This year as a senior, Scott is placed fourth nationally in assist to turnover ratio with 3.38 assist per turnover, and second for Idaho in scoring with 14.3 points per game. He is arguably Idaho’s most improved player and a surefire bet for first or second-team All-Big Sky honors.

“He worked and changed his body, he got a lot stronger, he got his outside shot a lot better, he really worked on his handles and really focused in on getting better,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said of Scott’s improvement. “He attributes it to cutting his hair, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it. I think he just really was focused in on making sure he had a good season and finishing his career the right way.”

Scott, a Los Angeles native who came to Idaho from Ante-lope Valley College, was known for his wild afro hairdo last season before deciding to go with

Scott emerged as leader during senior season

From Dakar, Senegal, to Fukuoka Daiichi High School in Japan, to France, to South-eastern Community College in Iowa and

Olney Central College in Illinois, Bira Seck’s path to Idaho was far from one most college athletes take.

Idaho coach Don Verlin first met Seck when he was recruiting another player in Japan — Modou Niang — while he was

an assistant at Utah State.“When I was in Japan recruiting a

number of years ago, that’s when I first met Bira and that’s when that rela-tionship formed,” Verlin said. “It was

probably eight or nine years ago now. He was just a young kid. Ob-

viously, I didn’t get a chance to recruit him at that time because

he was technically a non-recruitable athlete, but he

was there and he knew that we were there and we just stayed in touch with him

throughout his career.”Seck, whose full

name is El Hadji Ibrahima Seck,

said he stayed in contact through

Verlin’s friend and fellow Utah

Stories by Stephan Wiebe

The ArgonautEND OF THE ROADIdaho seniors prepare for their last days as Vandals

mEn’s bAskEtbAll

SEE hill, PAGE 8 SEE Scott, PAGE 8SEE Seck, PAGE 8

Vandals win 2 OT thrillerKorbin McDonald

Argonaut

It took two overtimes, but Idaho fought its way to a 92-87 victory over Montana Thursday night in front of an electric Memorial Gym crowd.

Failure was not an option for Connor Hill and Mike Scott, as the two seniors willed the team

to the win in their second-to-last home game as Vandals. The two combined for 41 points and made clutch baskets in key situations throughout the game.

Individually, Hill led

the team with 23 points and Scott finished with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists.

The two, joined by fellow senior Bira Seck, will play in their last home game against Montana State at 1 p.m. Saturday in Memorial Gym.

While the end had its fair share of ex-citement, the highlight of the game came in the first half.

Sophomore guard Sekou Wiggs pulled a dunk that could have been mistaken for something out of the video game NBA Jam. After he stole Montana pass near his own basket, Wiggs gathered himself, took one quick dribble, launched himself over two Montana defenders,

Sports briefs

SECKHILL SCOTT

Day one complete for Big Sky Championships

The first day is over for the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. The meet started Thursday in Flagstaff, Arizona, with the men’s heptathlon and the women’s pen-tathlon. Idaho did not have any ath-letes competing in the multi events as the Vandals start competition Friday. Idaho sent eight athletes on the men’s side and 12 on the women’s to the champi-onship meet. One of the first Friday events is the men’s triple jump. Senior Emmanuel Panchol and sophomore Dusan Jevtic go into the event tied for the No. 5 seed. The meet will conclude Saturday.

Vandals at fifth partway through WAC Championship

It wasn’t the start Idaho was looking for, but the Vandal swim and dive team is still in the mix for the WAC Championship, which began Wednesday in San Antonio and ends Saturday. At press time, the Vandals sat in fifth place out of the eight teams with 86 points. They are within strik-ing distance though as Northern Col-orado leads with 122 points, followed by Northern Arizona with 121 points, Cal State-Bakersfield with 91 points and New Mexico State with 88 points. Idaho senior Rachel Millet took third in the preliminaries of the 200-yard individual medley and fellow senior Erica Anderson placed second in the preliminaries of the 50-yard freestyle to lead Idaho.

Montgomery official leaves Vandal roster

Richard Montgomery took to Twitter Thursday to officially announce his departure from the University of

Idaho f o o t -b a l l program. The soph-o m o r e wide receiv-er has been rumored to be off the team since he was absent from the team’s final game of the season against Appalachian State. He was also left off the latest roster update on the official athletic de-partment website.

Idaho spokeswoman Becky Paull confirmed Montgomery’s departure.

“Richard has not been a part of the football program since prior to the Appalachian State game. He finished the fall semester and is not enrolled in the spring semester,” Paull said in an email.

File photos by Amelia c. Warden, Jay Anderson | Argonaut

Left: Bira Seck rebounds the ball against Northern Colorado Jan. 24. Center: Connor Hill shoots a 3 against

Sacramento State. Right: Mike Scott dribbles past EWU defenders in Cheney.

No. 13No. 5

No. 12

Idaho came back to defeat Montana 92-87 Thursday

SEE thriller, PAGE 8

Vandals’ roster and the only fourth-year senior on the team.

While Hill and Verlin were quick to point out how Hill has improved as an overall player, 3-point shooting has always been his forte. Hill is currently third in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage at 46.3 percent and fourth in the nation in 3-point field goals per game with 3.52.

“It means a lot,” Hill said of his 3-point record at Idaho. “I don’t think about it that much on a daily basis, but when I do think about it, it holds a special place in my heart. It’s coach Verlin and this university that gave me a shot and I did something special with it. I’m just thankful for that.”

Saturday, former Post Falls teammate Marcus Colbert will be in Memorial Gym on Senior Night, but he won’t be there to support Hill. Colbert averages 11.9 points

per game as a guard for the Montana State Bobcats this season.

“Playing against Marcus, it’s always fun,” Hill said. “Always trash talking with him, things like that. I know his family and friends will be down for that game too.”

In addition to his accolades on the bas-ketball court, Verlin said he was also im-pressed with Hill’s dedication in the class-room. Hill is studying business at Idaho.

“He’s got one more semester to do, two or three more classes after this year,” Verlin said. “But to come to the Univer-sity of Idaho and graduate in business — which it’s a very good business school here — to do that in four and a half years, and to do that with well over a 3.0 GPA and to accomplish the things that he has on the court — that’s pretty special.”

Stephan Wiebe can be reached at

arg-sports@uidaho.edu

THE ARGONAUTPage 8 February 27, 2015

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HillFROM PAGE 6

SEckFROM PAGE 6

ScOTTFROM PAGE 6

State assistant Lance Beckert. Beckert had a connection to Japan as the former coach at Daito Bunka University in Itabashi.

As Seck’s basketball journey continued, he got a call from Verlin while he was at Olney Central College. Seck averaged 8.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for OCC during the 2012-2013 season.

“I wasn’t really expecting it either,” Seck said. “Going to JUCO, I had a lot more options. But my sophomore year coming back from an injury, because I tore my Achilles tendon … and then one day (Verlin) called me out of nowhere and

I was like, ‘I know this guy.’ We talked, he said he was going to take care of me, he needed me. After that, I came to visit and I just changed my mind.”

Seck is one of three Vandals playing in their last home game at Moscow Saturday against Montana State. Connor Hill and Mike Scott join Seck as the three seniors celebrating Senior Night.

Unlike the other two, Seck is a post player. Despite standing at only 6-foot-6, Seck is third in the conference in rebound-ing at 7.4 rebounds per game.

“It’s willing, it’s wanting the ball,” Seck said of his rebounding. “You don’t have to be tall, you don’t have to jump high, you don’t have to be strong. It’s just wanting

the ball more than anybody.”After graduation, Seck said he may

try to pursue professional basketball in Japan before putting his international studies degree to use. He hopes to even-tually work for the United Nations or an NGO company.

“I think he’s just a great guy, I can’t say enough about him,” Verlin said. “He’s an international studies major. He’s originally from Dakar, Senegal, but via Japan. He’s an unbelievable story and I was just happy he was able to share it with us and be such a good standup Vandal.”

Stephan Wiebe can be reached at

arg-sports@uidaho.edu

a different look this year.“When I thought about cutting my hair, I

just wanted to send a message to everybody that it’s my senior year,” Scott said. “It’s my last year, and I want to come in and just let everybody know that I mean business. (I’ve) been working my tail off and I’m more approachable with the hair gone, more pro-fessional. After this, it’s for the real world, so it’s time to cut it anyway.”

Scott joins Connor Hill and Bira Seck as the three Idaho seniors playing their last game in Moscow Saturday against Montana State. On top of it being Senior Day, the MSU game might be a must-win game for the Vandals if they want to make the Big Sky Tournament. Going into Thursday, Idaho ranked No. 7 in the conference — one spot ahead of the tournament cutoff.

“We’re looking at this week as must-win games,” Scott said. “You always want to win games, but it’s getting to that point where the conference tournament is coming, so we need to win.”

Scott’s scoring and assist statistics stand out, but he is also an underrated defensive player — something harder to see when looking at statistics. Verlin said Scott took a large step from last season to become a better and more complete player.

“Defense was one of the biggest things I wanted to work on over the summer off the ball and on the ball,” Scott said. “That just comes from wanting to do whatever I can do for my team. Especially if I want to play basketball further, you have to learn to be a two-way player. Some kids can score, but what it really comes down to is if you can stop someone on the other end.”

Verlin said Scott is a coachable player and has a good natural feel for the game. He said Scott decided he wanted to really work to become a better player in the offseason — something Scott fulfilled.

“My hard work has paid off,” Scott said. “I thank coach V for giving me a chance to be here with this team. I’m just trying to do the best I can, so being able to take the last shot and be a contributor is a blessing.”

Stephan Wiebe can be reached at

arg-sports@uidaho.edu

It’s almost March, which means college golf has begun.

It’s the time of year when the Idaho men’s and women’s golf teams get to travel south every couple of

weeks to compete in an invitational and enjoy nice weather. Both the Idaho men’s and women’s teams were preseason favorites to win the Big Sky Champi-onship, according to the Big Sky

Preseason Coaches’ Poll. So far, each team has lived up to

the hype by having successful first tournaments this spring.

The Idaho men’s team took ninth out of 24 teams at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate last weekend in Palm Desert, California. The field included current No. 2 ranked Oregon and No. 19 Texas Tech.

A tough TCU team won the event, but Idaho held its own, with sophomore Jared du Toit tying for 10th and senior Aaron Cockerill ty-ing for 23rd out of 128 golfers.

The Idaho women’s team won the Texas State-hosted Delta Gam-ma Challenge in New Braunfels, Texas, which took place Feb.15-16.

Senior Leilanie Kim was one stroke from tying for first with three other golfers and junior Kristin Strankman was two strokes from the winners.

With the first events out of the way, expect both teams to improve at their upcoming tournaments. The men’s team now heads east to compete at the Cleveland Golf Pal-metto March 9-10 in Aiken, South Carolina, and the women’s team will head to Honolulu to play in the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational March 10-11.

Both teams have what it takes to win the Big Sky. They both have a superstar, with du Toit on the men’s side and Kim on the women’s side.

In fact, du Toit and Kim have already each been named Big Sky Conference Golfer of the Week this season for their first performances of the spring.

Du Toit already has impressive accolades, and he is only in his sophomore season. In his freshman campaign, he earned first-team All-WAC and WAC Freshman of the Year honors. He puts up consistent scores and can compete with any golfer in the country. Kim won the 2014 WAC Championship and will try to do the same in the Big Sky. But neither team is successful just because of one good player. They both have a good supporting cast around their superstars.

The men have some talented underclassmen besides du Toit. Sophomore Ryan Porch and fresh-man Daniel Sutton were among the starting five who competed at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate to open up the season. Porch finished third at the WAC Championship as a freshman.

Cockerill will be a huge contrib-utor this season as he already placed well in the first event of the spring. He was a first-team All-WAC selec-tion last season.

Junior Rylee Iacolucci should also make an impact this season. He struggled at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate, but he made second-team All-WAC last season for a reason.

Freshman Ian Kim and junior Scott Riley may also work their way into the starting lineup at some point this season.

While the men’s team may rely more on its underclassmen, the women’s team relies more on its experienced players. Senior Kaitlyn Oster and Strankman should be big factors this spring like they were in the fall season. Sophomore Amy Hasenoehrl and freshman Kendall Gray will also make contributions this spring.

As long as the teams stay healthy and continue to improve, there’s no reason why they can’t be Big Sky champs in April.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at

arg-sports@uidaho.edu

Ready to rock Big SkyIdaho golf teams have formula for success

oPinion

Garrett cabezaArgonaut

Kira Hunter | ArgonautThe Idaho men’s basketball team huddles during Thursday’s game against Montana in Memorial Gym. The Vandals won 92-87 in double overtime. The team will celebrate Senior Day Saturday against Montana State at 1 p.m. in Memorial Gym

THRillERFROM PAGE 6

cocked the basketball behind his head and threw it down with authority.

With six seconds left in regulation and his team down two, Mike Scott dribbled the length of the floor, charged at two Montana defenders and hurled up a desperation layup — he missed, but was fouled. He made both

and sent the game into its first overtime.The teams exchanged baskets for dura-

tion of the first overtime period. Idaho, however, led by three points with less than 10 seconds remaining, but Montana’s Jordan Gregory pulled up from behind the arc and drained the game tying shot. The game went into double overtime.

Gregory wouldn’t cool down in the second overtime and scored his team’s first

14 points of overtime. He finished with a career-high 36 points.

The show was stolen by Idaho though. With the help from a deafening Memorial Gym crowd, the team kept fueling the tired voices with basket after basket and eventu-ally pulled away for the win.

Korbin McDonald can be reached at

arg-sports@uidaho.edu