SEATTLE - Idaho trailed for most of the second half and leading scorer Stephen Madison was hindered with foul trouble all night, but the Vandals rallied back for a 71-64 victory at Seattle University in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both Saturday night.

Idaho (5-6, 1-0 WAC) ended the game on a 14-4 run that included three consecutive 3-pointers by junior guard Robert Harris to send Seattle (5-6, 0-1) to a loss in its first WAC game since joining the league this season. The win moves the Vandals to 5-0 in WAC road openers under head coach Don Verlin.

"I thought we did the things tonight - even though we weren't perfect - we did the things we needed to do to win the game," Verlin said.

Senior center Kyle Barone lived up to his preseason First-Team All-WAC accolade with a career-high-tying 25 points, along with 11 rebounds for his second-consecutive 20-10 game and his third overall this year.

"Kyle had a really good game today," Verlin said. "He was getting double-teamed and triple-teamed and he had seven offensive rebounds."

Harris set a career high with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including a 4-of-8 performance from long range. Sophomore guard Connor Hill from Post Falls added 12 points, while senior Mike McChristian filled the stat sheet with eight points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals.

Those extra efforts were necessary; first because the team started the game short-handed when illness kept senior guard Mansa Habeeb out of the lineup and second because Madison - the team's leading scorer - picked up three first-half fouls, then a fourth right at the start of the second period. He finished the game with just six points and two rebounds, both season lows.

The Redhawks led by as many as seven points in the second half, 56-47, with 6:07 to play. Idaho battled back, primarily through Barone in the paint. He scored 16 of Idaho's 38 second-half points - all nine of the team's points from 12:54 to 5:04 - in Madison's absence.

Harris nailed the first of two huge triples with 2:34 to play when he tied the game at 60-60, then gave Idaho a 63-62 lead at 1:32 and put Idaho ahead by three again with 53 seconds left at 66-63. Seattle made one free throw on the opposite end, but Idaho made three of its four free throw attempts after the Redhawks started fouling and a McChristian steal and solo fast-break dunk in the final seconds put a cap on the win.

Idaho finished the game shooting 22 of 51 (.431) overall, 7 of 21 (.333) from 3-point range and 20 of 27 (.741) from the free throw line. Seattle U shot 51.6 percent in the first half, but finished the game 25 of 56 (.446) overall and just 4 of 17 (.235) from 3-point range. SU also went 10 of 15 (.667) from the free throw line.

Verlin said after the game that there are still a few areas where improvement is needed. The Vandals had 14 turnovers and many of them were simply errant passes, and Seattle capitalized with 13 points off those giveaways.

The Vandals held a 35-32 rebounding margin, but gave up a season-high 17 second-chance points and were outscored on the fast break (8-4) for just the second time this season.

Idaho plays at San Jose State on Thursday.

IDAHO (5-6)

Barone 8-15 9-11 25, Harris Jr. 6-11 0-2 16, C. Hill 3-7 4-5 12, McChristian 2-7 3-4 8, Madison 2-7 2-3 6, Douglas 0-0 0-0 0, Borton 0-1 0-0 0, Bell 0-1 0-0 0, Kammerer 1-2 2-2 4. Totals 22-51 20-27 71.

SEATTLE (5-6)

Sunderhaus 5-10 0-2 10, Trent 5-11 3-3 14, Rasmussen 1-7 1-3 4, Obasi 1-7 1-2 3, Pickett 8-12 1-1 17, Green 1-2 0-0 2, Diop 0-2 2-2 2, Bidart 1-1 2-2 4, Flora 3-4 0-0 8. Totals 25-56 10-15 64.

Halftime_Seattle 36-33. 3-Point Goals_Idaho 7-21 (Harris Jr. 4-8, C. Hill 2-4, McChristian 1-5, Borton 0-1, Madison 0-3), Seattle 4-17 (Flora 2-3, Trent 1-3, Rasmussen 1-5, Pickett 0-1, Diop 0-1, Obasi 0-4). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Idaho 35 (Barone 11), Seattle 32 (Pickett, Rasmussen 6). Assists_Idaho 9 (McChristian 6), Seattle 10 (Bidart 4). Total Fouls_Idaho 14, Seattle 18. Technicals_Idaho Bench, Seattle Bench. A_2,715.