Hopson sparks Vandals

HONOLULU – Mac Hopson scored a season-high 24 points to lead Idaho past Hawaii 59-52 late Saturday night.

Steffan Johnson added 10 points, all of them in the first half including a buzzer-beating banked 3-pointer that gave the Vandals (8-4, 1-0 Western Athletic Conference) an 11-point lead.

Hawaii (7-7, 0-1) led midway through the first half, but Idaho’s long-range shooters caught fire and hit three 3-pointers in the last 90 seconds to give the Vandals a lead 22-20 lead, which they never relinquished.

Idaho hit 7 of 16 3-point attempts.