MOSCOW, Idaho - A slow first half was Idaho's undoing Saturday afternoon as the men's basketball team fell to Boise State, 82-68 at the Cowan Spectrum in front of 2,716 fans.  The loss drops Idaho to 3-14 on the season, 0-6 in the WAC and is the Vandals' ninth straight loss to Boise State.

"It didn't go our way.  We had a sluggish first half that I thought really cost us," Idaho head coach Leonard Perry said. "I thought we competed as hard as we have competed all year.  I thought the effort was tremendous in the second half."

David Dubois connected on a put back at the 17:34 mark to give the Vandals a 4-3 lead in the first half, but the Broncos went on a 14-0 run over the next seven minutes to take a 17-4 lead.  Idaho finally ended its drought when Tanoris Shepard hit a floater in the lane with 10:33 left in the first half.  Matt Forge knocked down a 3-pointer on the Vandals next possession to cut the lead to eight, however, the Vandals couldn???t kept their momentum going as the Broncos outscored them 12-2 and went seven minutes without a field goal.  Nebojsa Jakovljevic made a layin with 1:18 remaining to cut the lead down to 12, but Boise State's Coby Karl hit his third 3-pointer of the half with 44 seconds left to push the lead to 35-20 at half.

"The problems were on the defensive end in the first half," Perry said. "We gave up a couple of second shots.  We didn't make some baskets in the first half, but we haven't made those all year."

The Vandals shot a dismal 26 percent (8-of-31) from the floor in the first half, including a 1-of-12 (.083) performance from the three point line.  The Broncos connected on 13-of-27 shots in the half and was 6-of-15 from behind the arc.

The Broncos quickly pushed their lead to 20 points in the second half with 18:15 remaining in the game and led by 17 with 15:54 left when Idaho's Brett Ledbetter took over.  Ledbetter knocked down four straight 3-pointers for the Vandals in the next two minutes to cut the lead to five points at 46-41 and Idaho eventually got the lead down to four on another Ledbetter 3-pointer with 12:54 left.   

"We made a run to put ourselves in a position to do something," Perry said. 

The Vandals couldn't sustain their offensive momentum and the Broncos took advantage with a 10-2 run over three minutes to push the lead to 12 and eventually back to 18 points with 5:25 remaining.  Idaho was able to stay in the game and Shepard hit a jumper at the 1:12 mark to cut the lead down to six at 74-68.  Boise State hit 6-of-8 free throws with less than a minute left and the Vandals committed two turnovers and missed three shots in that time to give the Broncos the 82-68 victory.

Idaho shot a much improved 59 percent (19-of-32) from the floor in the second half and was 8-of-15 from the three point line.  Boise State shot 68 percent (15-of-22) in the second half and was 6-of-9 (67 percent) from the three point line.

"We are getting better offensively," Perry said. "We're having guys stepping up."

For the game Idaho shot 43 percent (27-of-63) from the floor and 33 percent (9-of-27) from the three point line.  The Vandals held a slight 33-32 rebounding margin, including 12 offensive rebounds.

Tanoris Shepard led Idaho with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, three rebounds, three assists and five steals.  Brett Ledbetter, who had gone 1-for-16 from the three point line in his last four games, had 17 points including five three pointers.  David Dubois added 14 points and Desmond Nwoke led the team with eight rebounds.

Coby Karl led Boise State with 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 6-of-8 from the three point line.  Eric Lane added 18 points for the Broncos.

Idaho (3-14, 0-6 WAC) plays at Fresno State on Mon., Jan. 30 at 7:05 p.m.