It didn't take long for the Vandals to take the suspense out of its ESPN BracketBuster matchup with Montana State. They led by 25 early in the second half and weathered a few Bobcat runs to snatch a 65-50 win in Bozeman.

We've got all the details below.

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Kyle Barone led UI with 15 points and Brandon Wiley had 13. But the story of this game was the Vandals' defense (and the Bobcats' poor shooting). Idaho held MSU to 16 points in the first half and 36 percent shooting overall. Montana State shot 2 of 17 from the 3-point line and missed its first eight long-range attempts.

“I thought the game was won tonight with our defensive intensity,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said. “Holding them to 50 points, 35 percent from the field, 11 percent from three, that was a pretty good defensive performance.”

Montana State, losers of nine straight games, never seriously threatened after the Vandals ran off a 21-4 run at the end of the first half and start of the second.

“We really played well in the first half,” Verlin said. “I thought we dominated every facet of the game - guys came out with an unbelievable amount of energy.”

Idaho moved to 15-11 with its third straight non-conference road game -- the program's longest such streak since 1990. Playing this well, particularly in the first half, should give the Vandals a bit more confidence entering a pair of difficult -- and critical -- WAC games at Nevada and Utah State next week.

The Aggies pulled out a huge win at St. Mary's in its BracketBuster game Saturday night while UNR beat UC Irvine.

Read more about the Vandals' win here.