Derrick Marks 33, Colorado State 29.

With Boise State trailing by two at halftime Saturday night, the sophomore guard caught fire in the second half with a thrilling performance in front of a black-clad crowd of 11,238 fans at Taco Bell Arena, outscoring the Rams on his own in the final 20 minutes.

Marks' career-best 38 points, tied for fifth-most in Bronco history, propelled Boise State to a 78-65 win that gave a big-time boost to its NCAA Tournament résumé.

Boise State (20-8, 8-6) has four straight Mountain West wins for the first time.

"I saw it in his eyes, he was going to score when we needed it," Boise State coach Leon Rice said. "… just a special, special game by him, and a special game all around."

Boise State donned new, all-black uniforms for the game, which drew the largest crowd of the season and 16th-largest ever at the arena.

After Marks had five points in the first half, he made the first basket of the second half 29 seconds in to tie the score at 36-36. He then made his next 10 field goal attempts, including a career-high four 3-pointers, as Boise State never trailed Colorado State (22-7, 9-5) again.

The 28 points Marks had in the second half in a win at then-No. 11 Creighton on Nov. 28 showed his ability to take over a game. Saturday's 11-of-11 shooting and five rebounds after halftime proved he could do it even better.

"That out there was just crazy," Anthony Drmic said. "I'm just sitting in the corner, watching, shaking my head saying, 'Wow, that's unbelievable.'"

Second-half bursts seem to come from Marks against top-notch opponents - he also had 19 at Michigan State in November and 16 at San Diego State last month.

"They just told me to keep going," Marks said. "I didn't want to lose this game. I knew we needed this game. To me, it was the biggest game of my college career. I wanted to do what I had to do."

Even though Marks only played 9 minutes because of the flu in Boise State's 77-57 loss Jan. 30 in Fort Collins, the Rams knew he could blow up in the second half - the team watched a montage of his second-half exploits prior to Saturday's game.

"We made our group well aware of what he could do," Colorado State coach Larry Eustachy said. "… He was too much for us tonight, too much for anybody."

As impressive as Marks' effort was, another aspect of the game was equally eye-opening - Boise State outrebounded Colorado State 31-30. It was just the second time a team outrebounded the Rams this year.

"To beat them on the boards, that's quite an accomplishment for our guys," Rice said.

Pierce Hornung, who had 23 points and 13 rebounds in the teams' last meeting, was held to one point and four rebounds in 33 minutes. Six-foot-10 center Colton Iverson has 12 first-half points, but none in the second.

"It's a big win, because last game, they embarrassed us," Marks said. "We all felt like we owed them."