MOSCOW, Idaho – Victor Sanders had another fantastic performance on Thursday night, tying a career-high with 33 points as Idaho (8-9, 3-3 BSC) topped Southern Utah (4-15, 2-4), 79-67, on Thursday night.
 
THE GAME
 
Both teams got out to slow starts, but the Vandals closed the first half on a 16-6 run to take a 28-27 advantage into the break.  Southern Utah fought back early in the second half to tie the game at 40, but Idaho went on a quick six-point run and maintained a multiple-bucket advantage the rest of the way.
 
Sanders saved his best work for the second half, scoring 23 of his game-high 33.  He shot 7-of-12 from the floor in the half, hit three 3's and made all six of his free throws.
 
Overall, the Vandals did a lot of work down low, outscoring the Thunderbirds 36-16 in the paint.  Brayon Blake finished with 14 points and eight boards off the bench, while Jordan Scott added 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.  Nate Sherwood had a balanced evening, scoring eight points and grabbing eight rebounds.  Idaho outrebounded Southern Utah, 42-28, including 24-10 in the second half.
 
As a team, the Vandals shot 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the floor and 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from beyond the arc.  Idaho was also 22-of-26 (84.6%) from the line.  The Vandals are now 3-0 in Big Sky play when they shoot 80 percent or better from the charity stripe.
 
THE NAME
 
Jordan Scott.  He shot well, he rebounded well, he defended well.  He finished the night 4-of-5 from the floor for 10 points and picked up six rebounds along the way.
 
Scott routinely takes on the challenge of defending the top-scorer and Thursday was no different.  Scott frustrated Randy Onwuasor all night, holding him to 37 percent shooting from the floor and picking up a pair of blocks.
 
THE QUOTES
 
"I thought Jordan played very well defensively tonight," said head coach Don Verlin.  "I thought he was active.  Even though Onwuasor gets 27, I thought we made him work for all of his shots.  He's 7-of-19 from the field and I thought that was one of the keys to the basketball game tonight.  Jordan also turned in a really nice game offensively, has 10 points and six rebounds, that's a pretty solid evening.
 
"I thought Vic did a great job tonight.  We moved him off the ball there for a period and we made a run.  Our guys did a good job of finding him and he did a nice job in knocking down shots.  Vic's obviously in a position change here and we're asking him to do a lot of things, but I thought he stayed the course all night long and did a great job of staying in it and not getting frustrated and just playing as hard as he can.
 
"I thought BJ Blake came off the bench and gave us great energy tonight.  It was nice to see him get back to rebounding the ball, especially offensively.  He had four offensive rebounds and that was a big key."
 
THE NOTES

• Victor Sanders tied his career-high with 33 points.  He also had 33 against Northern Arizona, at home last season.
• Jordan Scott finished with 10 points, his first double-digit scoring game against a Division I opponent since his freshman season.
• Sanders has hit 10-plus free throws in four conference games this season.  Idaho is 3-1 in those games.
• For the second straight game Idaho took a one-point lead into the half.  For the second straight game the opponent tied things up at 40.  For the second straight game, Idaho went on a quick run from there and cruised to the win.

 
Next up is Northern Arizona on Saturday night.  Check back with GoVandals.com tomorrow for more information.
 
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho men's basketball by following the team on twitter, @VandalHoops.

For more information on Idaho Athletics, visit GoVandals.com.  Fans can also find Idaho on Twitter and Instagram, @Idaho_Vandals, or on Facebook by searching Idaho Vandals.