BOZEMAN, Mont. – Don Verlin said early on every player, at some point this season, would be the catalyst for the Idaho Vandals. Thursday night it was freshman Jordan Scott, who came off the bench for 13 key points in the Vandals' 80-71 Big Sky road victory.

His total was matched by senior Mike Scott, who also had 13. While they were the only two players to reach double figures, every Vandal who saw action scored and had at least one rebound in a total team effort.

It wasn't, however, without a scare. After a back-and-forth first half, the Vandals let MSU loose in the early minutes of the second half as the Bobcats scratched out an 11-point lead. Verlin called a timeout and challenged his players.

“I got five guys that wanted to play hard,” said Verlin of the timeout that triggered a 14-1 Idaho run and put the Vandals in command of the game. “Jordan Scott has been a great Vandal. He comes and he works hard every day in practice. I said everyone is going to help us win a game this year. Tonight was Jordan's night.”

Verlin also had applause for a second-half defensive effort during which Idaho trimmed the Bobcats' shooting percentages to 31.3 from the field and 26.3 from 3-point range.

“It was nice to see those guys do that tonight,” said Verlin in commending Idaho's defensive effort. “That was the key – we just played harder and faster.”

And, of course, there is no looking past Idaho's 80 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Mike Scott was eight-of-eight and Arkadiy Mkrtychyan was six-of-eight as the Vandals were 20-of-25 overall. There were other highlights: Jordan Scott was six-of-six from the field and Connor Hill made three 3-point goals to up his career total to 301.

Idaho improves to 4-5 in the Big Sky and 9-11 overall, while MSU is 1-9 in league play