MOSCOW Pandemonium is becoming almost passe for the Idaho Vandals, who submitted their second straight come-from-behind, overtime effort Saturday playing worse this time but feeling much, much better.

The Vandals' bold, determined comeback from a 13-point deficit in the final 61/2 minutes culminated in Benji Johnson's 2-foot scoop shot with

six sec

onds left in overtime, giving UI an improbably difficult 84-82 victory over Northern

Arizona before 3,624 at the Kibbie Dome.

Perhaps fatigued by an overtime loss Thursday to Weber State, perhaps lulled by Northern Arizona's inauspicious recent history in the Big Sky Conference, the Vandals played sloppily in the first half and futilely for the first 33 minutes before staging a rally that was ... well, sloppy, but brill

iant in its self-sacrificing effort.

A detailed description would make the game sound like a free-for-all in Olympic floor exercise, which it was, but perhaps one or two incidents will suffice: for example, Jeremy Brandt's diving recovery of a loose-ball rebound midway through overtime, followed closely by Deon Watson's tennis-like lob-save of his own missed free throw.

Watson finished with 19 points and 19 rebounds, including 10 on offense. On a night went nothing went right the first time, the Vandals made sure

they had second chances i.e. 25 offensive boards.

And here they were, afterward, signing autographs and acting perfectly cool.

''I'm getting used to these comebacks,'' said Johnson, whose two free throws had given Idaho an 82-80 lead

with 50 seconds left in overtime. ''I don't like it. I'd rather win by 30.''

After Chancellor Davis' two free throws for NAU knotted the score 82-82, Idaho called timeout with 24 seconds left.

''We were looking for Deon on the low post,'' said Johnson, who finished with 18 points. ''I was supposed to dribble to the right side, but that little No. 20 (the 5-foot

-8 freshman Davis) overplayed me to the outside, so I just cut it back and drove in.''

His underhand layin banked home, and Idaho, 4-1, recaptured a share of the Big Sky lead with Idaho State, which plays host to the Vandals at 6:30 p.m. PST Friday.

NAU fell to 2-4 despite shooting 51 percent from the field, forcing 23 Idaho turnovers and getting a surprising 17-point performance from reserve guard Andre Watson, who missed only one of seven floor attempts.

The Lumberjacks left embittered by the officiating, particularly by a foul that allowed Idaho to send the game into overtime. With NAU leading 73-71 with four seconds remaining, Nate Gardner tossed an alley-oop inbounds pass to Orlando Lightfoot, who leaped for the ball alongside the Jacks' John Rondeno. The NAU forward was whistled, and Lightfoot hit two free throws at :03 to tie the score.

''I thought it was a bogus call,'' NAU coach Harold Merritt said. ''We came out with a game plan and executed it the best we have all year. And it's just a crime we didn't win this ballgame. I'm feeling so empty because our guys don't deserve this.''

Idaho coach Joe Cravens declined comment on the call but agreed that Northern Arizona played well enough to win.

''We played bad and were very lucky to win,'' he said. ''But at Montana we played very good and were very lucky to win. They (the Lumberjacks) deserved to win. In this business, I've been in a lot of games I deserved to win and didn't. When it's all said and done, it probably all evens out.''

Cravens was inclined to stress UI's superb finish over its stumbling start.

''It's real easy to focus on how bad we played,'' he said, ''rather than say, 'Hey, you had a horrible night, nothing was going right, and your guys had the heart enough to come back and make plays down the stretch and win the game.'''

Idaho's problems began 15 minutes before tipoff, when Lightfoot was floored after a collision with teammate Taran Hay during warmups. He started despite a badly bruised jaw, managed only five points in the first half and shot only 5-for-18 for the game. He had 17 points.

The Vandals lacked offensive flow through the first half, and with four minutes left before intermission Cravens inserted a lineup that included four first-year Vandals and center Frank Waters. The group held its own but UI still trailed 37-30 at the break.

The deficit reached 66-53 with 6:30 remaining but a 3-pointer by Johnson later made it 68-63 and two free throws by Brandt made it 69-66 with 2:29 to play.

A Lightfoot free throw tied it at 1:12, Davis' driving fadeaway jumper gave NAU a 71-69 margin at :44 and Brandt came through with a driving 6-footer at :22. Davis' two free throws preceded the controversial closing moments of regulation time.

NORTHERN ARIZONA (82) Andre Watson 6-7 0-0 3 2 17 Jason Word 4-6 3-6 3 5 11 Chancellor Davis 2-9 6-6 5 2 11 John Rondeno 2-9 3-6 2 4 8 Miki Deric 0-1 0-0 0 2 0 Makeul Williams 1-1 0-0 0 2 2 Tyrone Johnson 3-6 3-5 1 5 9 M. Ten Berge 4-7 1-2 3 5 9 Brad Snyder 3-5 2-2 2 2 9 Ken Bosket 3-3 0-1 1 5 6 Team 0 Totals 28-54 18-28 20 34 82 IDAHO (84) Jared Mercer 1-2 2-2 0 0 4 Ryan Halliday 0-3 4-4 1 2 4 Benji Johnson 6-7 3-3 3 2 18 Todd Spike 0-0 2-2 2 2 2 Mark Leslie 3-9 2-2 3 2 9 Nate Gardner 1-1 0-0 3 4 2 Jeremy Brandt 2-9 2-2 4 1 6 O. Ligh

tfoot 5-18 6-8 6 2 17 Deon Watson 7-11 5-9 19 4 19 Frank Waters 1-1 1-3 5 3 3 Team 3 Totals 26-61 27-35 49 22 84 Northern Arizona 37, Idaho 30

Regulation score Northern Arizona 73, Idaho 73 None A. Watson 5, Davis, Rondeno, Snyder, Johnson 3, Leslie, Lightfoot 3,624