MOSCOW, Idaho - The non-conference Border War between Washington State and Idaho Tuesday was highly-contested, if not ugly. Still, it was a defensive marvel.

In the end, though, it was a Vandal defensive breakdown and a dunk from WSU's Jeff Varem that gave the Cougars a 37-36 win.

"I'll take full responsibility for it," head coach Leonard Perry said. "We broke down. The only way we wanted to be beat was from a long, contested jump shot. In some kind of way we had a communication breakdown in the huddle."

Varem's dunk, which came with 1.2 seconds remaining, was more excruciating considering the Vandals had taken the lead on a masterful tip-in by Dandrick Jones one possession earlier.

Jones' play started when, with the Vandals trailing by one, he rebounded a missed Armend Kahrimanovic free throw and missed his first tip-in attempt. When the ball squirted to his left, Jones burst around a Cougar defender and used his off-hand to push the ball softly off the glass and into the net.

With 16 seconds left, the Vandals had a 36-35 lead - their first lead in more than 17 minutes.

On the ensuing possession, Thomas Kelati missed a long, fading jumper, yet Jones failed to secure a rebound that eventually dribbled out of bounds, setting up Varem's dunk.

"After we got the tip-in, our guys got too confident," Jones said. "I feel if I'd have grabbed the rebound, we would have won the game."

"I'm just relieved we won," WSU coach Dick Bennett said. "It wasn't a pretty game. But it was a hard-fought game."

While the Vandals connected on a measly 12-of-49 field goal attempts, the Cougars were nearly as bad. The Cougars had exactly one more shot from the field - and exactly one more make.

The Vandals return to the Cowan Spectrum Saturday night against Boise State University.