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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Vandals Find Elusive Hoop In A 14-Point Victory Johnson, Harrison Lead The Way As UI Knocks In 60.8 Percent Of Its Shots In An 86-72 Triumph Over Southern Utah In The Kibbie Dome

Former Washington State coach Kelvin Sampson, a buddy of Idaho coach Joe Cravens, used to say the key to basketball was simply “putting the brown thing (basketball) in the round thing (the hoop).”

Idaho did that on Monday night.

Guard Ben Johnson did that on 5 of 7 3-pointers and forward Harry Harrison on 9 of 10 shots.

The Vandals did that on 60.8 percent of their attempts - 69.6 in the second half - in an 86-72 non-conference drubbing of Southern Utah viewed by a Kibbie Dome crowd of 898, trimmed somewhat because UI students are on holiday break.

All this from a Vandals team that has sputtered offensively most of the year.

“We’ve just been playing possum, sucking everybody in,” Cravens joked.

Idaho, 5-1 at home, hiked its record to 5-6 heading into the opening weekend of Big Sky Conference play. Idaho State visits on Friday and Boise State on Saturday.

The Vandals were patient and flashed some of their best passing of the season.

“We’ve been working on not taking anything but layups or post shots in the first 20 seconds of the shot clock,” Johnson said.

That worked well. But sometimes the shots are just falling - like the 5-footer Harrison hit while he was falling on his keister, or Todd Spike’s first career 3-pointer at UI.

Or Johnson’s hot streak, which came after a string of four games without a field goal.

“Ben Johnson has been virtually dead and rotting offensively. He gets 14 in the first half and 19 for the game,” shrugged Cravens, sporting a why-ask-why look. “Why does the same group of guys shoot 60 percent here and 29 percent at the University of Washington (two weeks ago)? On essentially the same shots?”

“I’ve been about 0 for 30 on the 3s (actually 4 of 21), so I guess I was just due,” Johnson said. UI has won nine straight games in which Johnson has scored in double figures.

Speaking of double figures, Harrison returned to twin digits in points (22) and rebounds (13). He had a streak of six straight double-doubles snapped against Gonzaga last Tuesday.

He temporarily tied a UI record at 9 of 9 before having a layup blocked.

“Somebody told me I should have dunked it,” Harrison smiled. The rugged 6-foot-7 forward will have to settle with his UI career high in points and a nifty fastbreak feed to Nate Gardner in the second half.

Southern Utah (5-7) dropped in 12 of 26 3-pointers to stay in the chase. The Thunderbirds even took the lead, 47-45, before a decisive 22-5 run by Idaho.

Idaho’s shooting was its best since the 1992-93 opener, a 61-percent effort against Simon Fraser. Idaho 86, Southern Utah 72 SOUTHERN UTAH (5-7)

Faulkner 2-5 1-1 6, Allen 7-13 5-6 20, McDade 3-9 1-2 7, Berard 7-14 0-0 19, Ingram 3-6 0-1 8, Benson 0-0 0-0 0, Christopher 4-7 1-1 12, Peery 0-0 0-0 0, Morrison 0-2 0-0 0, Richards 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 8-11 72.

IDAHO (5-6)

Jones 1-3 0-0 2, Harrison 9-10 4-6 22, Gardner 5-7 0-0 10, Dirden 3-10 0-0 9, Leslie 4-7 4-5 14, Baumann 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 7-11 0-0 19, Spike 2-2 2-2 7, Coates 0-1 2-2 2, Hay 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 31-51 13-17 86.

Halftime-Idaho 38, S. Utah 33. 3-Point goals-S. Utah 12-26 (Berard 5-12, Christopher 3-3, Ingram 2-3, Allen 1-2, Faulkner 1-2, McDade 0-2), Idaho 11-18 (Johnson 5-7, Dirden 3-8, Leslie 2-2, Spike 1-1). Fouled out-Faulkner. Rebounds- S. Utah 24 (Allen 7), Idaho 30 (Harrison 13). Assists-S. Utah 16 (Ingram 7), Idaho 23 (Leslie 9). Total fouls-S. Utah 18, Idaho 11. A-898.