PORTLAND, Ore. – It wasn't quite coast-to-coast, but it was close, as Idaho cruised to a 97-88 win over Portland State on Thursday night.
 
THE GAME
 
Idaho jumped out to a quick lead before Portland State leveled the score at 24 midway through the first half.  Just as they did on Saturday against North Dakota, the Vandals then went on a run, building a 48-37 lead at the break.
 
The hot shooting continued into the second half as Idaho built a 58-40 lead.  The Vikings were able to cut the deficit to single digits on a number of occasions, but the Vandals were always ready to respond with clutch buckets from Victor Sanders, Brayon Blake and Arkadiy Mkrtychyan.  Perrion Callandret, coming off the bench for the first time this season, provided some much needed offense in the clutch as well.
 
Idaho led for nearly 37 minutes on the night, and was up by double-digits for most of the second half.  In the end, the Vandal offense proved to be too much for the Vikings, with Idaho taking the 97-88 victory.
 
Idaho shot 61.4 percent (35-of-57) on the night, including 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from beyond the arc.  Idaho won the rebound battle, 35-32. Blake finished with a career-best 28, pacing the Vandals all night.  Sanders had an excellent game as well, scoring 22 points to go along with five rebounds and seven assists.
 
THE NAME
 
The bench.  Callandret and Mkrtychyan each went into double-figures, with Callandret scoring 16 and Mkrtychyan finishing with 11.  Trevon Allen knocked down a pair of 3's in the first half.
 
THE NOTES
 
Idaho moves to 7-3 in Big Sky play.  Portland State drops to 3-6.
 
The Vandals topped 90 points in back-to-back games for the first time since the 1997-98 season.  That year, Idaho defeated UC Santa Barbara, 97-70, and Cal Poly, 102-71, in early January.
 
Blake scored a career-high 28 points.  His previous career-best came in Idaho's big win over Washington State in December.  He had 26 that night, the most points scored by a Vandal in the Battle under Don Verlin.
 
The bench scored 33 points on the night, the most in a game this season.  The previous high was 23 in the first meeting with Portland State.
 
Idaho recorded a season-high 22 assists.  The previous high was 21, done at CSU Bakersfield.
 
Mkrtychyan also had a season-high, finishing with 11 points.
 
THE QUOTES
 
"We did a couple things really, really well tonight," said head coach Don Verlin.  "Our ball moved, 22 assists and 12 turnovers versus a team that presses the entire game.  I thought we played selfless basketball tonight.  They really did a nice job of passing the basketball.  When you get 22 assists on 35 field goals, that's excellent.  And then, one of our main emphasis was to get to the free throw line and we got there 23 times.
 
"BJ has been playing wonderfully this year.  I thought he made some tough ones.  He was in a little foul trouble there and I didn't get him out there as much as I wanted to.  I think he'd tell you, he'd attribute this to his teammates and our ball movement.  He got a number of wide open looks.  We were able to execute a big play there down the stretch, got him the basketball in a mismatch situation and he was able to go get a shot.
 
I couldn't be happier with the way we were able to sustain it.  We got up 14 or 15 and we were able to kind of withstand all their runs.  They're a team that plays with runs and momentum and this and that and the other, and I thought every time they made a run we did a real nice job responding to it."
 
Next up is a trip south to take on Sacramento State at 7 p.m. on Saturday.  Check back tomorrow for more on the matchup.
 
Fans can stay up-to-date on all things Idaho men's basketball by following the team on twitter, @VandalHoops.  Tickets are on sale for what is shaping up to be an exciting season of Vandal basketball, get yours today at GoVandals.com/Tickets.

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.