Cameron Gooden led all scorers with a career-high 27 points as Utah Tech snapped a two-game slide with an 81-71 road victory over Idaho on Saturday afternoon at the ICCU Arena in Moscow.  

How it happened 
Utah Tech (2-3/0-0 WAC) had the hot shooting touch in the early going as the Trailblazers hit 11 of their first 14 shots, including 5-of-8 from the perimeter, to bolt out to a commanding 28-11 lead just nine minutes into play.
 
UT extended that lead to as many as 18 points before heading the locker room with a 46-36 cushion at the halftime intermission. 
 
However the Blazers lost some of that touch to begin the second half as the Vandals chipped away at the UT lead and pulled to within a point at 48-47 with 15:13 remaining.
 
Utah Tech regained the momentum with a 9-0 run over the next three minutes to extend back to a double-digit advantage, bolstered by an Isaiah Pope "and-one" and a Gooden lay-in.
 
The Trailblazers managed to maintain at least a two-possession lead the rest of the way en route to their first road win of the 2022-23 campaign. 
 
Numbers to know
Gooden was on fire all afternoon as the senior guard hit on 8-of-10 from the floor with three 3-pointers, and went 8-of-10 at the line en route to his career night. Gooden also pulled down five rebounds, dished out four assists and picked off one steal in a team-high 38 minutes of action.
 
Meanwhile Pope tallied 10 points off the bench as a season-high five Trailblazers wound up in double figures.
 
Noa Gonsalves tallied 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, as did Jacob Nicolds, who was 8-of-8 at the foul line to go with six boards. 
 
Tanner Christensen, who played two seasons at Idaho before transferring to Utah Tech, scored 10 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds in his return to the ICCU Arena. 

Utah Tech shot a season-high 50.0 percent from the floor (25-of-50), and was 9-of-24 from the perimeter (.375). UT also hit on 22-of-29 at the line (.759), and outrebounded the Vandals by a 32-23 count.
 
Isaac Jones led four Vandals in double figures with 25 points. Idaho actually had a better shooting day than UT as the Vandals shot 53.8 percent (28-of-52) for the game, but they were just 4-of-15 (.267) from beyond the arc. 
 
Up next
Utah Tech continues its season-long seven game road swing on Thanksgiving Weekend in the "Peace Garden State" as the Trailblazers will play in the North Dakota Holiday Tournament. UT will open tourney play against the host Fighting Hawks on Friday, Nov. 25 at 1 p.m. (CT), followed by a date against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 2 p.m. (CT).