Egbert helps Idaho beat Southern Utah 68-44

Cedar City, Utah (AP) Ty Egbert scored 12 points with two blocked shots and Idaho surged in the second half to beat Southern Utah 68-44 on Thursday night, avenging an earlier loss to the Thunderbirds, who have now lost five straight.

Nick Blair and Arkadiy Mkrtychyan scored 10 apiece and Idaho (14-9, 6-4 Big Sky) outrebounded Southern Utah 37-23 while shooting 54 percent from the field and making 10 of 18 free throws.

Idaho led 28-22 at halftime, and then used runs of 8-2 and 13-1 to further pull away to a 49-28 lead with 11:26 to play.

Blair's dunk with 58 seconds left gave the Vandals a 27-point lead, their largest of the game.

The win is the second straight for the Vandals, who were beaten by the Thunderbirds 85-83 on Jan. 16.

Casey Oliverson, Race Parsons and John Marshall each scored nine points for Southern Utah (4-16, 2-8), which shot 36 percent.