Turnovers doom Vandals

MOSCOW - Idaho led by 17 points in the first half at home against Texas State on Thursday night, but a sloppy finish to the half switched the momentum and the Vandals never recovered in a 78-73 Western Athletic Conference men's basketball loss before 1,279 at the Cowan Spectrum.

Idaho (7-11, 3-5 WAC) took a 32-15 lead at the 6:09 mark of the first half on a Stephen Madison layup to cap a 13-4 scoring run. At that point, the Vandals were 12 of 22 from the floor, while Texas State (6-14, 2-6 WAC) had made just four of its first 22 attempts (18.2 percent).

Idaho had 18 turnovers in the game, many of them unforced, and gave the Bobcats easy shots and 10 more field goal attempts overall as a result.

"The bottom line, for this team to win, we have to take care of our turnover woes," Idaho coach Don Verlin said.

Fueled by Idaho giveaways, Texas State outscored the Vandals of the final six minutes of the half by a 15-2 margin on 8-of-11 shooting. In the meantime, Idaho turned it over five times and missed its final five shots of the half and settled for a 34-30 lead into the break.

Idaho extended its lead quickly as high as eight points at 38-30 and again at 40-32. With the Vandals holding a 45-38 lead at the 15:31 point, Texas State went on a 9-2 run to tie the game for the first time, at 47 with 13:13 to play.

Tied at 67 with less than two minutes to play, Idaho committed three turnovers and made just one field goal, while Texas State's Joel Wright rattled off seven consecutive points on his own to give the Bobcats a six-point lead that Idaho could not overcome in the final two minutes.

Kyle Barone scored a career-high 27 points for Idaho. Stephen Madison added 14 points, Mike McChristian 13 points, all in the first half, to go along with eight rebounds. No other Idaho player netted more than six points. Barone, Madison and McChristian went a combined 18 of 26 from the floor, but the rest of the team combined for 6-of-24 shooting.

Wright's 37 points led Texas State - the most ever allowed by the Vandals in a WAC game - and Phil Hawkins added 16 points.

"He beat us from the inside, he beat us from the outside," Verlin said of Wright. "I knew he was a good player coming in. He gets 18 points a game and we really stressed him coming in. We just couldn't guard him."

The Vandals play host to UTSA on Saturday. UTSA (5-13, 1-7) won 78-75 at Seattle U on Thursday.

TEXAS ST. (6-14)

Hawkins 6-10 1-2 16, T. Jones 0-3 1-2 1, Stern 2-4 1-2 5, Davis 3-7 0-2 6, Staff 1-5 0-0 3, Koenen 4-8 0-0 10, Dorsey 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 0-1 0-0 0, D. Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Wright 12-20 12-15 37, Hinton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 15-23 78.

IDAHO (7-11)

Harris Jr. 1-5 2-2 4, C. Hill 2-10 0-0 6, McChristian 5-7 0-0 13, Barone 8-10 11-12 27, Madison 5-9 4-5 14, Douglas 0-0 2-2 2, Habeeb 1-4 1-2 3, Borton 0-1 0-0 0, Kammerer 0-0 0-0 0, Faines 2-4 0-1 4. Totals 24-50 20-24 73.

Halftime_Idaho 34-30. 3-Point Goals_Texas St. 7-24 (Hawkins 3-6, Koenen 2-4, Staff 1-3, Wright 1-4, D. Jones 0-1, Davis 0-2, T. Jones 0-2, Stern 0-2), Idaho 5-17 (McChristian 3-4, C. Hill 2-9, Borton 0-1, Madison 0-1, Harris Jr. 0-2). Fouled Out_Harris Jr.. Rebounds_Texas St. 28 (Staff 7), Idaho 37 (Barone 16). Assists_Texas St. 9 (Wright 5), Idaho 11 (Barone, Habeeb, Harris Jr., Madison 2). Total Fouls_Texas St. 20, Idaho 18. A_1,279.