Barone fuels Vandal victory
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Kyle Barone had 16 points and 13 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double and Idaho pulled away in the second half to defeat San Jose State 64-55 on Thursday night.
Stephen Madison added 15 points for the Vandals (6-6, 2-0 Western Athletic Conference), who shot 50 percent from the floor.
James Kinney led San Jose State (7-6, 2-1) with 17 points. The Spartans committed just five turnovers but shot 28 percent from the floor, including 3 for 20 on 3-point attempts.
"You've got to give our assistant coaches a congratulatory note and pat on the back there," Idaho coach Don Verlin said. "They did a great job with the game plan and our guys went out and did a really nice job of going out there and executing."
Barone also blocked three shots.
After starting the game shooting 5 of 15 from the floor, the Vandals made nine of their final 13 shots to end the half with a 33-30 lead. San Jose State went just 12 of 41 (.293) from the floor in the first half, but got back 10 points from its 13 offensive rebounds during the period.
After Idaho took a 33-30 lead into halftime, Robert Harris opened the second half with a 3-pointer that started a 13-2 Vandals run to make it 46-32. San Jose State got within 53-48 with 8:12 remaining but Idaho scored the next seven points on a pair of Barone free throws, a 3-pointer by Mike McChristian and a layup from Denzel Douglas.
Kinney entered the game ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA with nearly 22 points per game, but he went just 6 of 21 from the field for the Spartans. No other San Jose State player made more than three field goals or cracked double figures.
"We really had to sit down and guard him tonight and try to contain him," McChristian said of Kinney. "We knew he was going to get his shots up and he was going to get some points, but we just wanted to make it tough on him defensively."
San Jose State converted 21 offensive rebounds into 18 second-chance points - both Idaho opponent season highs. Idaho also had 15 turnovers in the game, which led to 16 San Jose State points.
"You look at this game as a whole and I thought we played really hard, we played aggressive, we executed our game plan," Verlin said. "But we just gave up too many offensive rebounds and got a little sloppy with the ball."
Idaho travels to Utah State on Saturday.
IDAHO (6-6)
McChristian 4-8 0-0 10, Madison 7-12 1-3 15, Barone 5-11 6-7 16, Harris Jr. 3-7 0-0 7, C. Hill 1-4 0-0 3, Douglas 2-2 0-0 5, Habeeb 0-2 0-0 0, Bell 1-1 2-2 4, Kammerer 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 25-50 9-12 64.
SAN JOSE ST. (7-6)
Cunningham 3-13 2-2 8, Garrett 1-5 0-0 2, A. Brown 3-7 0-0 6, D. Brown 1-7 3-4 5, Kinney 6-21 2-2 17, Williams 0-1 0-0 0, X. Jones 0-2 2-2 2, Smith 2-4 0-0 4, VanKirk 0-0 0-0 0, C. Jones 1-1 0-0 2, Pennington 3-10 3-6 9. Totals 20-71 12-16 55.
Halftime_Idaho 33-30. 3-Point Goals_Idaho 5-12 (McChristian 2-3, Douglas 1-1, Harris Jr. 1-2, C. Hill 1-3, Madison 0-3), San Jose St. 3-20 (Kinney 3-11, Williams 0-1, Garrett 0-1, D. Brown 0-3, Pennington 0-4). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Idaho 39 (Barone 13), San Jose St. 40 (Cunningham 11). Assists_Idaho 16 (Habeeb, Harris Jr. 4), San Jose St. 8 (D. Brown 4). Total Fouls_Idaho 11, San Jose St. 10. A_1,144.