Boise State men’s solid offense can’t keep up with red-hot Creighton in Cayman Islands

The Boise State men’s basketball team had shot better than 50 percent 61 times under coach Leon Rice before the Broncos began play at the Cayman Islands Classic.

On Monday against Creighton, they made it 62 — and lost for just the third time doing it.

The Broncos shot 51.6 percent from the field, but the Bluejays shot 57.9 percent, leading by as much as 21 in a 94-82 win.

“They’re a really good offensive team and we knew that. … They’re a little ahead of us that way, in the way they play together,” Rice said Monday in a postgame phone interview.

Creighton (3-1) had 23 assists in the game to the Broncos’ eight, and the Bluejays hit nine of their first 13 3-pointers, moving the ball with relative ease and finding open looks. The Bluejays made their first from long distance to tie the game at 21-21, then used those next eight to build a 64-49 lead with 14:22 to play.

“We couldn’t catch up with the ball, couldn’t make them miss,” Rice said.

Boise State (1-2) trailed 46-41 at the halftime break, making 2-of-7 free throws and 3-of-9 3-pointers. As Creighton continued its 3-point barrage, Boise State never got closer than a 9-point deficit in the final 18:30.

Though the Broncos’ 3-pointers weren’t falling, they found a lot of success inside and slashing to the basket, making 28-of-47 (59.6 percent) from 2-point range. That was due in major part to junior guard RJ Williams’ 27-point, nine-rebound, three-steal showing.

Williams, who scored the team’s first eight points, has 60 points and 21 rebounds in the Broncos’ three games, shooting 61.5 percent.

“He was pretty special, played his tail off,” Rice said.

Senior forward Zach Haney had 15 points in 21 minutes, while junior guard Justinian Jessup also had 15 points. Sophomore guard Derrick Alston pitched in 11 points and eight rebounds. Boise State will play St. Bonaventure at 3 p.m. MT Tuesday in the consolation bracket. The Bonnies (1-3) reached the NCAA Tournament in March, beating UCLA before falling to Florida.

This story was originally published November 19, 2018 at 9:11 PM.