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Utah State Defeats Idaho 80-42 In Men's Basketball
MOSCOW, Idaho. - David Pak scored a game-high 15 points and added six assists to lead Utah State to a convincing 80-42 Western Athletic Conference win against Idaho here Wednesday night. With the win, Utah State improves to 17-6 overall and 8-4 in the WAC, while Idaho falls to 4-18 on the year and 1-10 in league play with the loss.
Cass Matheus scored the first four points for Utah State and the Aggies raced out to an early 13-point lead at 22-9 before Idaho went on an 8-3 run to cut USU's lead to eight at 25-17 with 7:49 remaining in the half.
Following a three-pointer from Nebojsa Jakovljevic to give Idaho 17 points, Utah State went on a 37-0 run over the next 13:07 to turn a close contest into a 45-point lead at 62-17. During that run, the Aggies held the Vandals scoreless for the final 7:49 of the first-half and for the first 6:04 of the second-half.
Utah State's biggest lead came with 5:11 remaining in the game on a lay-up by Durrall Peterson to give USU a 50-point advantage at 78-28. The Vandals finished the game by out-scoring the Aggies 12-2 to reduce the margin to 38 points.
Matheus added 12 points and nine rebounds for Utah State, while Peterson had 12 points, seven rebounds and a season-high six assists. Nate Harris also scored in double-figures as he finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for the visitors.
Keoni Watson led Idaho with 13 points, including 11 in the second half, while Tanoris Shepard added 12 points.
Utah State finished by shooting 56.6 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from three-point range, while limiting Idaho to just 29.4 percent shooting. USU also out-rebounded the Vandals 37-24, and recorded 20 assists in the game as compared to just six for UI.
Next up for Utah State will be a non-conference game against Northwestern State on Sat., Feb. 18 at 8:05 p.m. in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The game will be televised live by ESPNU and is one of 13 BracketBuster games presented by eBay.
