BOISE, Idaho – Derrick Marks scored a career-high 39 points and Anthony Drmic added 21 as Boise State held off rival Idaho 98-89 Wednesday night in a nonconference game played on a neutral court at CenturyLink Arena.
Marks scored the final 15 points for Boise State (5-0) and made 21 of 23 attempts from the foul line. As a team, the Broncos made 34 of 44 free throws and wound up shooting 55 percent from the field in front of a sold-out crowd of 5,547.
Boise State led from start to finish in beating its in-state rival for the fifth consecutive time. Ryan Watkins finished with a game-high 14 rebounds and scored all 16 of his points in the first half when the Broncos built a 44-31 lead. Boise State scored all of its points in the opening half in the paint or at the foul line, quite a contrast from its first four wins when the Broncos made an average of 11.8 3-pointers per game. Boise State attempted only seven against Idaho, making two.
Drmic had 15 of his points in the second half for Boise State, which barely missed scoring 100 points for what would have been the fourth time this season.
Idaho (3-4) got 26 points from Stephen Madison, 15 from Glen Dean and 14 from Mike Scott. The Vandals trailed by as many as 23 points in the second half. They got as close as 94-89 with 43 seconds remaining but couldn't complete the comeback. Idaho shot 63 percent from the field in the second half and 51 percent in the game.
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