After Idaho's win tonight -- a 70-64 victory at San Jose State -- I don't think I've ever heard Don Verlin as excited as he was during his postgame radio interview. The Vandals are on a roll, and Verlin senses his team's confidence.

Read on for an early look at our game story.

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Before our story, here are a few notes:

• The Vandals will be the third seed and play in the opening game of Thursday's quarterfinal matchups. If Hawaii holds on to beat Utah State tonight, Idaho will play Louisiana Tech. If USU wins, the Vandals will face Hawaii. The Vandals went 2-0 against La. Tech and 1-1 vs. Hawaii.
• Idaho has beaten every team in the WAC at least once, one reason why the Vandals will be confident going into next week, Verlin said.
• Verlin praised the defense of Kyle Barone, who held Wil Carter to 6 of 18 shooting from the field and had three blocks.
• Verlin admitted that he got too cautious at the end of the game, when UI's 14-point lead fizzled to four. "Pretty much we were just holding on down the stretch."
   

SAN JOSE – The Idaho men’s basketball team narrowly missed out on the second seed for next week’s WAC tournament. Just about everything else, though, is going the Vandals’ way.

Idaho held on Saturday night for a 70-64 win at San Jose State – its seventh victory in eight games since early February.

The Vandals, picked to finish fifth by WAC coaches in the preseason, wrapped up the regular season at 18-12 and 9-5 in league play. They’ll be the third seed in the WAC tournament and face Louisiana Tech or Hawaii at noon Thursday in Las Vegas.

“What a great thing for our basketball program, for our players and for our fans,” coach Don Verlin said. “I’m just extremely excited.”

Idaho would have snatched the No. 2 spot if New Mexico State had lost at Fresno State. But the Bulldogs blew a 19-point lead and fell 83-78 in overtime.

Still, the Vandals have consecutive 18-win seasons for the first time since 1992-94 under Larry Eustachy and Joe Cravens. Their 9-5 conference mark is the best for the program since joining the WAC prior to the 2005-06 season.

“I’m pretty confident we’ll get to play after the (WAC) tournament somewhere,” Verlin said. “Like I told our guys, let’s make sure it’s the NCAA tournament.”

As the second seed, NMSU (23-9, 10-4) will play Fresno State again in Thursday’s quarterfinals while league champion Nevada will play eighth-seeded San Jose State.

The Spartans (9-21, 1-13) hung around Saturday with a steady dose of 3-pointers from guard James Kinney. He buried five long-range shots and finished with a game-high 19 points.

But the Vandals held SJSU to 40 percent floor shooting and were balanced once again offensively. UI had six players register at least eight points, led by Deremy Geiger’s 16 points.

Idaho hit 53.5 percent of its shots and led by 14 in the second half, thanks to a 3-point barrage from Connor Hill and Geiger. Hill made three consecutive triples after halftime – part of a streak of seven straight over two games for the freshman from Post Falls.

San Jose State drew within four points on two occasions in the final few minutes. But Idaho sank 9 of 10 free throws during one key stretch and the Spartans didn’t get closer.

“We never lost our focus,” Verlin said. “We never got frustrated. We just kept grinding along.”
 

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