Vandals hang on, subdue San Jose St.
MOSCOW - Idaho jumped out to an early lead and held San Jose State to just 31.9 percent shooting, but second chances let the Spartans hang around in a 66-63 Vandal win on Saturday in Western Athletic Conference men's basketball before 950 at the Cowan Spectrum.
Idaho (9-12, 5-6 WAC) sophomore Connor Hill led all players with 19 points on 4-of-10 overall shooting, including 4-of-8 from long range, and a perfect 7-of-7 performance at the free throw line. Senior center Kyle Barone tallied his eighth double-double in WAC play and his 11th overall this season with 15 points and 12 rebounds, along with three assists.
"They were doubling down on him (Barone) all night long and I thought he did a great job of passing out of the post," Idaho coach Don Verlin said. "I really liked the way he played because he was very unselfish. He found Connor for a couple wide-open threes and Connor really shot the ball well tonight."
D.J. Brown scored 18 points for San Jose State (9-13, 3-8), which had 16 offensive rebounds in the second half.
"We found a way to win and that's a positive," Verlin said. "We've lost a lot of those games like that this year. They just beasted us on the boards today."
Verlin switched up his starting lineup for the first time since the start of WAC play and started the team's four seniors, along with Hill, a sophomore guard. Verlin said he was trying to find a spark and that he felt like it succeeded.
"I didn't think our team has been playing with enough urgency," Verlin said. "So I adjusted the starting lineup and who's going to play with more urgency than four seniors?"
They responded as he had hoped. Senior guard Mansa Habeeb had eight points, all in the first half, and connected on a pair of 3-pointers. Senior forward Wendell Faines set career highs with nine points and five blocked shots and did a solid job defending San Jose State's Chris Cunningham, who had just five points on 2-of-14 shooting and 18 rebounds before fouling out late in the game.
"I thought Wendell did a great job of standing in between him and the basket and making himself hard to shoot over," Verlin said.
The Vandals didn't make a field goal in the game's final 5:23, but went 10-of-12 from the free throw line during that span and did just enough to hold off a late San Jose State charge. The Spartans' Aalim Moor banked in a 30-foot 3-pointer with less than a second left to pull the Spartans with in three and the final margin of 66-63.
Next up for Idaho is a trip at New Mexico State on Thursday, followed by a Saturday game at Denver, at 3 p.m. on ROOT Sports.
SAN JOSE ST. (9-13)
Moor 2-3 0-0 6, X. Jones 0-3 0-0 0, Cunningham 2-14 1-3 5, Andoh 2-5 0-2 4, Garrett 3-10 1-2 10, D. Brown 5-15 5-12 18, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, C. Jones 3-3 0-0 6, Grieves 3-11 1-2 10, A. Brown 1-3 0-3 2. Totals 22-69 8-24 63.
IDAHO (9-12)
Habeeb 3-6 0-0 8, C. Hill 4-10 7-7 19, McChristian 3-9 0-0 8, Barone 4-9 7-8 15, Faines 1-2 0-0 2, Harris Jr. 2-5 0-0 5, Douglas 0-0 0-0 0, Borton 0-1 0-0 0, Madison 1-6 7-10 9, Kammerer 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-50 21-25 66.
Halftime_Idaho 40-27. 3-Point Goals_San Jose St. 11-27 (Garrett 3-5, D. Brown 3-8, Grieves 3-11, Moor 2-3), Idaho 9-23 (C. Hill 4-8, Habeeb 2-3, McChristian 2-5, Harris Jr. 1-3, Borton 0-1, Madison 0-3). Fouled Out_Cunningham. Rebounds_San Jose St. 47 (Cunningham 18), Idaho 42 (Barone 12). Assists_San Jose St. 13 (D. Brown 5), Idaho 10 (Barone 3). Total Fouls_San Jose St. 22, Idaho 21. A_950.