Boise State keeps Mountain West home win streak alive, avenges earlier loss
Derrick Alston Jr. spied Justinian Jessup making a hard cut along the baseline and hit him with a laser under the basket.
Jessup caught the basketball and made a reverse layup in traffic to surpass 400 points for the second straight season. Alston and Jessup have each eclipsed 400 points the past two seasons, becoming only the fifth pair in Boise State men’s basketball history to do so in consecutive seasons.
“That’s what we talked about in the timeout: Don’t just stand on the perimeter, cut strong, be ready to throw it, and these guys go out and do it. That’s the mark of mature and good players when they can do that,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said.
“Those two together, they’ve just grown and grown, and they’re continuing to get better together. That’s why I’m cherishing every one of these days — every practice, every moment — I get with these guys.”
Jessup, Alston and RJ Williams all scored in double figures to help the Broncos improve to 12-1 at ExtraMile Arena with a 74-57 victory over Air Force on Tuesday night. The Falcons have not won in Boise since 2012, and the Broncos are 7-0 in Mountain West home games this season.
The win assures the Broncos (17-9, 9-5 MW) keep pace with Utah State and Nevada in the conference standings. The three teams were tied for third going into Tuesday’s games, and the Aggies (20-7, 9-5) edged second-place Colorado State 75-72 to move the Broncos into a share of second place by a half game. Nevada (15-10, 8-5) plays at UNLV (12-13, 7-5) on Wednesday night.
“We flipped it on a team that had already beat us,” said Rice, whose Broncos lost 85-78 at Air Force on Jan. 15. “It was an impressive second half by our guys. We played with good emotion, got the ball moving, got our timing back and got clicking. We accomplished a good mission today.”
Jessup, who owns the Mountain West’s career 3-point record at 304 and counting, continued his historic season by scoring a team-high 18 points, which ties him with former teammate Chandler Hutchison for No. 9 on the Broncos’ all-time scoring list with 1,478 points.
“It’s amazing, just the work that he’s put in from day one,” Alston said of Jessup. “I remember when we came back here in the summer we were the first two out here, I think late May, just in the gym working every day. ... I’ve seen the work, and he’s deserving of all that.”
Williams notched his eighth double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Alston scored all 15 of his points in the second half to pull out of a recent slump. Through the first half of Tuesday’s game, Alston had gone a combined 2-for-20 from the field over the last two-plus games. He also grabbed seven boards with a team-high three assists.
“I’m still not very satisfied offensively,” said Alston, who was on the ExtraMile court with assistant coach R-Jay Barsh shooting after the game. “But I’m just glad we got the win, and we’ve just got to continue to work.”
Air Force missed its first seven shots of the game, allowing Boise State to take an early 8-2 lead. Williams spearheaded the Broncos’ first-half effort with three different three-point plays, the third of which came on a monster one-handed dunk through contact. Williams was 3-for-3 from the floor and 6-for-7 from the free-throw line for a game-leading 12 points at halftime, when Boise State led 30-23.
The Broncos pushed their advantage to as many as 24 points, 74-50, with 1:23 to play. BSU also held the Falcons to 25 percent (6-for-24) shooting from 3-point range. Air Force entered the game making 38 percent of its shots from deep, a mark that ranked 20th in the nation.
The Broncos now gear up for a rematch with No. 4 San Diego State at 2 p.m. Sunday at ExtraMile Arena. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network. The Aztecs forced the Broncos into a season-high-matching 18 turnovers in an 83-65 victory on Jan. 11 at Viejas Arena. Boise State trailed by 23 at halftime, a margin that stands as the largest halftime deficit in Rice’s 10 seasons. About 9,000 tickets already have been sold for Sunday’s game.
Notes: After sitting out the past two games with a hip pointer, Abu Kigab logged 15 minutes off the bench and totaled six points, two rebounds, one assist and one blocked shot. ... Jessup managed the Broncos’ first four-point play of the season. He sank a 3-pointer and drew a foul, sending him to the free-throw line for one freebie, which he made.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 9:12 PM.
