San Jose State 57, Idaho 53

Jan 21, 2006, 08:13 pm

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) -- Demetrius Brown and Alex Elam scored 16

points apiece and the San Jose State Spartans withstood a late

Idaho charge to defeat the Vandals 57-53 in a Western Athletic

Conference matchup Saturday.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Spartans

(5-12 overall, 1-3 WAC), who had lost 11 of their last 12 coming

into the game and hadn't won a conference road game since Feb. 15,

2003.

It was the sixth consecutive loss for Idaho (3-12, 0-5).

The Vandals had a chance to tie when junior forward Igor Vrzina

pulled up for a 3-pointer with 3 seconds to play. Bu this shot was

well off the mark and San Jose State put the Vandals out of reach

when Tyree Gardner hit the second of two free throws with 2.4

seconds remaining.

San Jose State led 22-18 after a cold-shooting first half by

both teams. The Spartans made good on just 8 of 25 field-goal

attempts (32 percent) over the game's first 20 minutes, while Idaho

was 8-for-26 (30.8 percent).

The pace quickened after the break. San Jose State converted

four straight shots to open the second half, including a pair of

3-pointers, and the Vandals were four-for-seven from the floor

during the same span.

The Spartans extended their advantage to 42-33 on an alley-oop

from Carlton Spencer to Brown with 10:03 remaining. Idaho gradually

closed the gap to 46-42, then pulled within 2 points on a Keoni

Watson runner with 5:50 to play. After a Brown free throw at the

other end, the Vandals missed 3-point tries on four straight

possessions, any of which would have tied the score.

The Vandals managed to pull within 53-51 on a pair of Tanoris

Shepard foul shots with 41.2 seconds left. Shepard missed another

pair of free throws that would have brought the Vandals within a

point with 21.3 seconds remaining, but Watson kept Idaho in

contention with two foul shots that cut the Spartan lead to 55-53

with 12.4 seconds to play.

Brown hit one of two free throws with 10.9 seconds to go,

setting up the game's final sequence of events.

Watson and David Dubois had 17 points apiece for the Vandals.