Idaho ends losing streak vs. Nevada

RENO, Nev. – Mac Hopson and Luciano de Souza each scored 16 points and the Idaho Vandals turned back the Nevada Wolf Pack 78-73 Saturday night in the Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball opener for both teams.

Kashif Watson added 13 points as UI (7-7, 1-0) snapped a nine- game losing streak to Nevada.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am for this program and we really need to feel good about this win,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “Our guys have worked tremendously hard to get to this point and I can see us continuing to get better if we continue to see this type of effort. I was most happy with how we didn’t have many loose possessions tonight.”

Nevada (7-7, 0-1) was led by Brandon Fields’ 19 points. Malik Cooke added 13 points.

Idaho trailed 65-62 with 2:48 to play after a three-point play by Cooke. Hopson then drove the lane for a bucket and Watson hit a pair of free throws and a short jumper in the lane for a 66-65 Idaho lead with 1:53 to go.

De Souza had a dunk for a 71-65 Idaho lead with 31 seconds to play.

Idaho led 35-33 at halftime. De Souza led Idaho with 11 points at halftime on the strength of three 3-pointers.

As a team, Idaho hit 26 of 50 (.520) field-goal attempts and finished a blazing 7 of 11 (.636) from beyond the 3-point line. The Vandals, who entered the contest ranked seventh in WAC for free-throw shooting at 66 percent, nailed 19 of 24 (.792).

“The players make 200 free throws a week and it has been one of our biggest areas of emphasis. We all have been disappointed in our performance thus far and our guys stepped up and made them tonight and it was the difference in the game,” Verlin said.