Idaho clinches Big Sky bye, beats Southern Utah, 84-75 (Mar 04, 2017)

CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) Victor Sanders and Arkadiy Mkrtychyan combined to score 43 points and Idaho clinched a first-round bye in the Big Sky Conference by beating Southern Utah, 84-75 in the regular season finale Saturday.

The victory wraps up a third-place finish for the Vandals, behind North Dakota and Eastern Washington. Idaho plays the winner of a game between the conference No. 6 and No. 11 seed in a quarterfinal game Thursday in Reno, Nevada.

Sanders knocked down five 3-pointers and finished with 22 points to lead Idaho (17-12, 12-6). Mkrtychyan shot 8 of 12 from the field, grabbed eight boards and finished with 21 points. Overall the Vandals shot 26 of 58 from the field (44.8 percent), including 10 of 28 from 3-point range, and converted 22 of 30 from the free throw line.

Randy Onwuasor scored 17 points to lead the Thunderbirds (5-26, 3-15), who finish last in the conference.