The University of Idaho Argonaut

Mike Hall led the University of Idaho men’s basketball team to a 74-63 victory over the San Jose State Spartans Thursday night with nine three-point field goals. Hall broke the school’s record for single game threes by one. The win was Idaho’s fifth of the season.
Hall attributes the win to his grandfather’s magic powder.

“My grandpa sent me some magic powder to put on my hands before the game,” Hall said.
Hall uses the powder, which is really just talcum powder, to keep his hands dry during the game.
The win gives Idaho coach George Pfeifer his first five win season in Division I basketball. In both the 2005-06 and the 2006-07 seasons the Vandals were limited to just four wins.

“This is definitely a big win for our program,” Pfeifer said. “If we find a few more successes like this we will be looking at being towards that middle run in the WAC.”
Adding tension to Cowan Spectrum in the final four minutes of the game was Idaho’s Clyde Johnson and San Jose’s Chris Oakes. The two received simultaneous flagrant personal fouls for a dispute in which Oakes elbowed Johnson who responded verbally. An angry Johnson was quickly escorted off the court by several teammates.

Pfeifer supported Johnson, and later received a technical foul for throwing his jacket in response to a referee’s decision shortly after the Johnson-Oakes altercation.
“If I got hit in the throat, I’d probably be throwing my jacket or something,” he said.