Wazzu gets Vandalized

MOSCOW - Victor Sanders swung around a teammate's screen and caught a pass on the run, launching an effortless 3-pointer that briefly hung in the air before dropping through the net with an audible swish.

The senior guard jogged back to the other side of the court and slowly turned toward the rowdy Vandal student section, raising both hands with three fingers outstretched in celebration.

The moment was simply the exclamation point during a hot start for the Idaho men's basketball team, as the program steamrolled visiting Washington State on Wednesday by a score of 91-64 during the annual Battle of the Palouse in front of 4,329 spectators at Cowan Spectrum.

"There's definitely an edge when you're playing in this game, I've played in it for four years and I'm 3-1," Sanders said. "When you're playing in this game, it's the whole state of Idaho behind you against the whole state of Washington. When it's at home, you feel the energy, you feel the love. I think that's what helped us, too. When it's a packed house, you can't have nothing but goosebumps and excitement."

All it took was one shot to energize the Idaho offense. Perrion Callandret's opening attempt from 3-point range swished cleanly through the net and Brayon Blake added a personal 9-0 scoring run to help the Vandals (6-2 overall, 0-0 Big Sky) snag a 14-point lead in the opening minutes of the game.

"I thought Idaho came out on fire tonight, I don't know so much about us being flat," Washington State coach Ernie Kent said. "Give them some credit, they played extremely well. I don't know if they've shot the ball like that all year long, but they shot it well. Their energy was great, everything they put up went in."

The Cougars (6-2 overall, 0-0 Pac-12) used a group effort to claw back into contention, with the team getting short range baskets from Robert Franks, Viont'e Daniels, Milan Acquaah and Kwinton Hinson during a productive 14-4 spell. After trimming the lead to six points, Washington State could only watch in exasperation as Idaho launched another scoring spree to regain control of the matchup before the break.

"They just came out on fire, there wasn't a lot we could do about it to calm them down," Kent said. "They just took control of the game early. We fought hard to get back into it. I think we were down six at one time, took a bad shot and then (they) went on another run on us."

The staunch Vandal defense effectively shut down Malachi Flynn and the Cougars, holding the sophomore point guard to nine points on the night. Washington State finished with a 26.9 shooting percentage from behind the arc, compared to Idaho's 56 percent.

"We worked extremely hard on getting out there with high hands, getting out there quick," Idaho coach Don Verlin said. "It's been our emphasis. We thought if there was an area to improve on from last year, it was that we gave up too high of percentages and teams made too many 3-pointers against us."

Sophomore guard Trevon Allen provided perhaps the highlight defensive play of the second half, smacking a layup attempt from Acquaah off the backboard with a resounding thump that could be heard over the cheers of the home crowd. Sanders followed with a snazzy fast-break bucket on the other end of the floor to extend Idaho's lead to 64-42.

"It's amazing when we get people in this building how electric it is and how much better we play when there's a full house," Verlin said.

Blake led all scorers with 26 points - a career high mark for the senior forward. Sanders and Callandret combined for another 35 points, while Jordan Scott dished out four assists in the win.

"It felt good, I was just locked in and focused," Blake said. "My teammates were helping me, getting me the ball. The rest was just the rest. Just my hard work paying off."

Franks was the only Cougar to finish in double figures, ending the night with 16 points and six boards.

"It's a long season, you don't get too up when you're 6-0, you don't get too down (when you lose)," Kent said. "You just get ready for the next one, because there's so much basketball left.

UP NEXT - Washington State hits the road Saturday for a 7 p.m. contest at UTEP, while Idaho also prepares for a 7 p.m. road meeting with Cal-State Bakersfield on the same day.

DOMINATION - The 27-point margin of victory was the third highest for the Vandals in the Battle of the Palouse and the largest since a 37-point win during the 1962 season.

LET'S BE FRANK - Franks reached double figures for the seventh time in eight games this season. The junior forward leads the Cougars with an average of 19.9 points per contest.

WASHINGTON ST. (6-2)

Bernstine 3-5 2-2 8, Franks 6-12 2-3 16, Flynn 3-6 0-0 9, Skaggs 2-7 0-0 6, Daniels 2-8 1-1 5, Chidom 2-2 1-3 5, Cooper 0-0 0-0 0, Pollard 2-3 0-1 4, Ergas 0-1 0-0 0, Langston 0-1 0-0 0, Acquaah 3-9 1-4 7, Hinson 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 25-61 7-14 64.

IDAHO (6-2)

N.Sherwood 4-6 1-1 9, Blake 10-18 2-6 26, Scott 1-6 2-2 5, Callandret 6-10 0-0 16, Sanders 7-15 2-2 19, Mkrtychyan 4-7 0-0 8, Blakney 0-1 0-0 0, Allen 0-4 0-0 0, West 2-2 0-0 5, C.Sherwood 1-2 0-0 3, Kingman 0-1 0-0 0, Garvin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-72 7-11 91.

Halftime -Idaho 49-30. 3-Point Goals-Washington St. 7-26 (Flynn 3-4, Franks 2-5, Skaggs 2-7, Langston 0-1, Acquaah 0-4, Daniels 0-5), Idaho 14-25 (Callandret 4-4, Blake 4-4, Sanders 3-9, West 1-1, C.Sherwood 1-2, Scott 1-2, Kingman 0-1, Allen 0-1, Mkrtychyan 0-1). Fouled Out-Mkrtychyan. Rebounds-Washington St. 27 (Franks 6), Idaho 39 (Blake 8). Assists-Washington St. 11 (Flynn 3), Idaho 20 (Callandret 5). Total Fouls-Washington St. 19, Idaho 18. A-4,329 (7,000).

Joshua Grissom can be reached at jgrissom@dnews.com or on Twitter @JoshuaGNews.