Victor Sanders scores 30, leads Idaho over Idaho State

MOSCOW – Victor Sanders scored 30 points and Idaho held off Idaho State’s late rally for a 69-61 victory on Thursday night in Big Sky Conference play.

Idaho (14-12, 9-6) snapped a two-game skid, has won five of its last seven games, and is in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference standings. Idaho State (5-22, 3-12) has lost five in a row.

Sanders was 9 of 15 from the floor, made six 3-pointers and grabbed nine rebounds. Arkadiy Mkrtychyan added 10 points for the Vandals.

Idaho shot 42 percent and hit 8 of 18 (44 percent) from beyond the arc. The Vandals held a 42-34 advantage on the boards. They generated 32 points in the paint and got 19 points off the bench, including nine from Trevon Allen, who hit both of his 3-point field goal attempts.

Brandon Boyd scored 19 points, including 10-of-10 shooting from the line, and added three steals to lead Idaho State. Ethan Telfair was 7 of 21 from the field and chipped in 17 points. Novak Topalovic had 12 points and 10 rebounds. He was 4-of-5 shooting.

The Vandals took the lead for good midway through the first half and built a 30-22 halftime advantage.

The Bengals got their deficit down to five on a layup by Brandon Boyd with 13 minutes left, but Sanders started a run with a 3-pointer, and after the teams traded possessions with out a score, Sanders drained another 3 to put the Vandals up 45-34.

A third straight 3-pointer gave Idaho a 14 point lead midway through the half.

Mkrtychyan scored in the paint to make it 52-36, Allen hit from long distance with 5:38 left to make it 59-43 and yet another 3-pointer from Sanders gave the Vandals a 17-point lead with about four minutes left.

The Bengals used a 16-4 run, including a pair of 3-pointers by Telfair and three straight free throws by Balint Moscan, then capped by Mocsan’s 3-pointer, to pull to 66-61 with 22 seconds left, but Allen hit 1 of 2 from the line before Sanders made a pair with seven seconds left to seal it.

The Vandals continue Big Sky play on Saturday when they host Weber State at 3 p.m. The Wildcats were dumped by Eastern Washington 82-72 on Thursday.