MOSCOW, Idaho – Concordia refused to go away, but the University of Idaho men's basketball team registered its first win of the season on Monday with a 77-61 victory over the Cavaliers at Memorial Gym.

“I thought we battled hard,” Idaho head coach Don Verlin said. “All in all, I thought it was a lot of good work after a tough, hard-fought loss a Long Beach State. To come back and play two days later on some tired legs, I thought our guys competed very hard.”

Senior guard Deremy Geiger had the shooting touch for the Vandals, which improved to 1-1 on the heels of Geiger's 19-point, five-assist, zero-turnover effort. He notched 15 of his points on a career-high-tying five 3-pointers.

Junior center Kyle Barone posted his third career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, along with three blocks, while sophomore Stephen Madison shot 6-of-10 from the floor for a career-high 15 points, as well as five boards, one block, one steal and one assist.

“Deremy Geiger played a very nice game with 19 points, 5 assists, and no turnovers,” Verlin said. “I thought Stephen Madison was very solid, and Kyle Barone had another double-digit rebounding night.”

Despite building a 22-point lead at the midway point of the second half, Idaho couldn't quite put the Cavaliers away. With the Vandals holding a 60-38 lead at the 11:30 mark, CU went on a 15-4 run to slice the Vandals' advantage down to 11 points with 7:02 remaining and add some drama to the finish.

A steal by junior Mansa Habeeb and a Madison fast-break layup, followed by a Geiger layup, put Idaho back ahead by 17, 70-53, at the 5:50 mark, but six unanswered CU points again slimmed the lead down to 11. Geiger answered the call again and drilled a 3-pointer and the Idaho defense limited the Cavaliers to just one made shot on four attempts over the final 3:28 to preserve the win.

CU guard Kevan West led all scorers on the day with 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including a 6-of-7 performance at the free throw line.

“You've got to give credit to Concordia, they're a scrappy little bunch,” Verlin said. “Kevan West – what a game he had.  We just couldn't guard him – he scored inside, outside, at the free throw line, any which way he wanted to.”

Idaho shot 49.2 percent (31-63) as a team, while Concordia hit 35.7 percent (20-56) of their attempts. The Cavaliers, which entered the game shooting 52 percent from 3-point range, made just two of their 14 attempts for a .143 clip, while Idaho shot 5-of-16 (.313) from deep. CU stuck around mainly because of a 19-10 scoring advantage at the free throw line.

Idaho held a 44-31 rebounding edge, and turned 19 offensive boards into 19 second-chance points. CU had 14 offensive rebounds and 12 second-chance points. Idaho also held a 46-26 scoring edge in the paint, 14-12 off turnovers and 13-4 on the fast break.

It was Concordia that set the tone early in the game, as the Cavaliers opened up a 7-2 lead to start the game, and held a lead until senior forward Djim Bandoumel's put-back three-point play gave the Vandals a 13-11 lead at 15:05. CU did not lead after that point, but stayed within a single-digit margin until a Geiger 3-pointer at 2:49 in the first put Idaho up, 38-28.

After a tough season-opening road test at Long Beach State to open the season, another difficult away game awaits Idaho at Montana on Thursday. The Vandals will play Montana, which is 1-1 after a 60-59 victory over Great Falls on Monday.

Thursday's game tips off at 6 p.m. (PDT) at Montana's Dahlberg Arena. Fans can listen live to the action on the Vandal Radio Network, or online through VandalXtra on www.GoVandals.com.