San Jose, Calif.----- Center Kyle Barone scored 16 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and forward Stephen Madison scored 15 as Idaho defeated San Jose State, 64-55, in a Western Athletic Conference men's basketball game.

            The Vandals (6-6, 2-0 WAC) picked up their second road win in conference play and ended the Spartans' (7-6, 2-1 WAC) hopes of going 3-0 for the first time as a WAC member.

A TOUGH NIGHT ON OFFENSE

            Guard James Kinney was the only San Jose State player to score in double-figures with a game-high 17 points.

            "They are a 'grinder' team and it's a compliment to them. They grind on you and they did a good job of it. Defensively, they played off our guys and did a good job of crowding the paint. We had a hard time scoring and a hard time making baskets," said San Jose State coach George Nessman. "When you shoot 25 percent at home, you in a problem.

            "In the first half, we had really good shots. I'm not quite so sure about the second-half shots. I think some of them were forced in the lane. We were trying to go forward and make plays. The spirit behind it was good. You're trying to make a play to get us going, but they end up being forced plays and end up hurting us."

IDAHO"S CHANGING DEFENSES A BIG FACTOR

            After opening conference play with a pair 50-plus percent field goal shooting percentages, the Spartans made just 28.2 of their tries against the changing Idaho defenses.           

"I thought our guys did a good job executing our defensive game plan. They made it real hard on James Kinney. It was our game plan to make them earn their points. To hold Kinney to 17 points and make him take 21 shots to do that, I was happy with our defensive effort," said Idaho coach Don Verlin.

"Our defense was the key to this basketball game. We played okay on offensively. Their pressure bothered us a little bit. They killed us on the boards. When you hold somebody to 28 percent, it's pretty hard to get beat."

Idaho converted 50 percent of its field goal tries - the third time in its last four games the Vandals shot at least 50 percent from the field.

Guard Matt McChristian was a third double-figure scorer for Idaho with 10 points including a pair of key three-pointers in the second half.

TWO 2nd HALF VANDAL RUNS DECIDE GAME

            After leading 33-30 at halftime, the Vandals used a 10-0 run early in the second half to take a 46-32 lead.  The Spartans closed to 53-48 with 8:13 remaining, but Idaho answered with a 7-0 spurt.

San Jose State outrebounded Idaho, 40-39, and was able to three times in the first half on the strength of its offensive rebounding. The Spartans were credited with 21 offensive rebounds - the third time this season they came up with 20 or more offensive rebounds.

San Jose State looks to bounce back Saturday night hosting Seattle University, in a 7:00 p.m. game in The Event Center.

Newspaper Box Score
Idaho vs San Jose State
01/03/13 7:00 p.m. at San Jose, Calif. (The Event Center)

IDAHO 64, SAN JOSE STATE 55

IDAHO (6-6, 2-0 WAC)
Barone, Kyle 5-11 6-7 16; Madison, Stephen 7-12 1-3 15; McChristian, Mike
4-8 0-0 10; Harris, Robert 3-7 0-0 7; Douglas, Denzel 2-2 0-0 5; Bell,
Marcus 1-1 2-2 4; Kammerer, Joe 2-3 0-0 4; Hill, Connor 1-4 0-0 3; Habeeb,
Mansa 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-50 9-12 64.

SAN JOSE STATE (7-6, 2-1 WAC)
Kinney, James 6-21 2-2 17; Pennington, LaVanne 3-10 3-6 9; Cunningham, Chris
3-13 2-2 8; Brown, Alex 3-7 0-0 6; Brown, D.J. 1-7 3-4 5; Smith, Stephon 2-4
0-0 4; Jones, Xavier 0-2 2-2 2; Garrett, Louis 1-5 0-0 2; Jones, Chris 1-1
0-0 2; VanKirk, Mike 0-0 0-0 0; Williams, Jaleel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-71
12-16 55.

Idaho.........................   33   31  -   64
San Jose State................   30   25  -   55

3-point goals--Idaho 5-12 (McChristian, Mike 2-3; Douglas, Denzel 1-1;
Harris, Robert 1-2; Hill, Connor 1-3; Madison, Stephen 0-3), San Jose State
3-20 (Kinney, James 3-11; Pennington, LaVanne 0-4; Brown, D.J. 0-3; Garrett,
Louis 0-1; Williams, Jaleel 0-1). Fouled out--Idaho-None, San Jose
State-None. Rebounds--Idaho 39 (Barone, Kyle 13), San Jose State 40
(Cunningham, Chris 11). Assists--Idaho 16 (Harris, Robert 4; Habeeb, Mansa
4), San Jose State 8 (Brown, D.J. 4). Total fouls--Idaho 11, San Jose State
10. Technical fouls--Idaho-None, San Jose State-None. A-1144