Boise State men preserve victory with defensive stop; Presnell wins No. 300 at BSU
Abu Kigab made the game-winning shot for Boise State, but it was Emmanuel Akot’s job to make sure San Jose State senior Richard Washington didn’t pull off one final stunner.
Down by one with 14.6 seconds left, the Spartans got the ball back and were already in the bonus. All eyes turned to Washington, who was 7-for-10 from 3-point range to that point. Washington had already sank a triple from the left wing with 1:45 left to put the Spartans ahead by one, 81-80, and he did it again with 37 seconds to go from the right corner for an 86-85 SJSU lead.
If Akot was too aggressive on defense, he’d gift Washington with a trip to the free-throw line. But playing it safe could be just as disastrous against the hot-handed Washington.
Akot’s defense was just right, limiting Washington to a highly-contested, off-balance 3-pointer that bounced off the front of the rim in the closing seconds to preserve Boise State’s 87-86 victory Saturday at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.
“In my opinion, E-man is one of the best defenders in the country, especially on ball,” Boise State senior Abu Kigab said. “We were confident with his abilities, and we put him on No. 11. He got the job done. You’ve got to give him a lot of credit, because it’s very hard to do that, especially late in the game, stay solid, wall up and not give anybody an easy basket. That’s really what wins us the game. If E-man doesn’t get that stop, we lose.”
The one-point win came on the heels of the Broncos’ 52-point victory Thursday over the Spartans, who relocated to Arizona because of COVID-19 restrictions in Santa Clara County. The Broncos had six players score in double figures for the second straight game.
Derrick Alston Jr. totaled a team-best 20 points — his fifth consecutive game in double figures — and he pulled down 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Alston scored eight of his 20 points over the final 3:59 as the Broncos and Spartans exchanged the lead six times in the last 1:45 of action and 14 times overall.
“I’m just proud of our guys and how we just stuck with it the whole game. We just stayed resilient,” Alston said. “I honestly think we needed this. Our margins have been really big, so I think just to kind of play down the stretch against a team like that and pull it out like that shows a lot of character from us. It was a big win for us.”
The Spartans shot just 23.8% from the floor and 11.5% from 3-point range in the first game against the Broncos, but connected at a rate of 50.9% overall in Game 2, including a 14-for-27 performance (51.9%) from beyond the arc.
“It just shows our character,” Kigab said. “Guys really wanted this game. It didn’t go how we expected it to, but that’s OK. It’s basketball, it happens. I love how we fought and how we responded, and we’re just gonna keep getting better from here.”
After Washington’s seventh triple of the game gave the Spartans (1-6, 0-4 MW) an 86-85 lead with 37 seconds remaining, Akot tried for a go-ahead 3-pointer of his own but was off the mark. Kigab hustled for the rebound and drove into the paint for a jumper that ended up producing the final margin.
Kigab totaled 13 points and seven rebounds, and Marcus Shaver Jr. (15 points), RayJ Dennis (12), Max Rice (11) and Mladen Armus (10) also reached double figures. Armus matched Alston with 10 boards for his first double-double as a Bronco.
Boise State (8-1, 4-0) pushed its win streak to eight games, which last occurred during the 2015-16 season when the Broncos tied a school record with 10 victories in a row.
The Broncos continue Mountain West play with a two-game series next week against Air Force. Game 1 is scheduled for 9 p.m. Wednesday (Fox Sports 1) and 6 p.m. Friday (Stadium) at ExtraMile Arena.
“Sometimes you just take the win and move on, but I think there’s a lot we can look at,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “The film will tell us a lot of things we can do better, and that’s great. That’ll help us.”
Women: Boise State 70, San Jose State 53
Gordy Presnell was already the winningest coach in program history, but 300 has a pretty nice ring to it.
The Boise State women’s basketball team took down San Jose State on Saturday at ExtraMile Arena to give Presnell his 300th win with the program. Presnell has 696 victories and 308 losses in 34 seasons overall as a head coach.
“I’ve been around some incredible people, some really good coaches that have been very loyal,” Presnell said. “But our support staff, they don’t get the credit they deserve. Ray (Hawili) our strength coach and Nicole (Denno) our athletic trainer and Julia (Fishman) our directer of (operations) and Mia (Gallo) our grad assistant. They’re just phenomenal, supportive and team first.
“They make a lot of stuff happen, and that probably has been as fun in these last few weeks as anything is just getting to be around all those guys.”
With Saturday’s win over the Spartans, the Broncos (5-0, 2-0 MW) have now won 13 straight games dating back to the end of the 2019-20 season. It is the fifth longest active winning streak in the nation.
Redshirt senior Mallory McGwire returned from a one-game absence to post her 10th double-double as a Bronco with 15 points and 16 rebounds to go with a team-leading five assists. Fellow post Rachel Bowers collected her first career double-double with 14 points and a career-best 12 boards. Junior Jade Loville paced the Broncos in scoring for the fourth time in five games with 22 points, five rebounds and four assists.
“It was great to have Mallory back,” Presnell said. “I thought our post players were really dominant — both got double-doubles — and Jade got us going early.”
Loville spearheaded a 19-4 BSU run to open the game with 10 points in the first quarter as the Broncos led from start to finish. Boise State locked down on the Spartans in the fourth quarter, limiting them to one field goal and six points.
The Broncos’ sweep of the Spartans (2-2, 1-2) provides a huge confidence boost going into their first road trip of the season. San Jose State was picked to finish second in conference play this season, according to a preseason poll. The Broncos were predicted to place third with a roster full of new faces, including eight true freshmen and two redshirt freshmen.
“I’m anxious to see how we do when we have to get off the mat,” Presnell said. “We’re gonna try real hard to keep defending our title.”
The Broncos head to Colorado for a two-game series against Air Force. Game 1 is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday followed by Game 2 at 2:30 p.m. Friday. Both games will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network, which is available at BroncoSports.com/mwn.
MEN: BOISE ST. 87, SAN JOSE ST. 86
BOISE ST. (8-1, 4-0 MW)
Armus 3-8 4-7 10, Kigab 4-9 5-6 13, Akot 2-9 2-2 6, Alston 5-11 9-11 20, Dennis 3-7 4-4 12, Shaver 5-11 3-4 15, Rice 4-7 0-0 11. Totals 26-62 27-34 87.
SAN JOSE ST. (1-6, 0-4 MW)
Agee 4-5 4-7 12, Lacewell 3-5 3-4 11, Moore 3-7 0-0 7, T.Smith 2-7 0-1 5, Washington 9-17 1-2 26, Dalcourt 7-11 6-6 23, Simmons 1-2 0-0 2, Courtney 0-1 0-0 0, Mendoza 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 29-57 14-20 86.
Halftime—Boise St. 42-34. 3-Point Goals—Boise St. 8-24 (Rice 3-5, Dennis 2-4, Shaver 2-4, Alston 1-4, Kigab 0-2, Akot 0-5), San Jose St. 14-27 (Washington 7-11, Dalcourt 3-6, Lacewell 2-3, Moore 1-1, T.Smith 1-5, Mendoza 0-1). Fouled Out—Agee. Rebounds—Boise St. 39 (Armus, Alston 10), San Jose St. 28 (Lacewell 7). Assists—Boise St. 12 (Kigab, Alston 3), San Jose St. 14 (Moore 8). Total Fouls—Boise St. 21, San Jose St. 24.
WOMEN: BOISE ST. 70, SAN JOSE ST. 53
SAN JOSE ST. (2-2, 1-2 MW)
Tyra Whitehead 5-12 4-6 14; Raziya Potter 6-12 2-3 14; Cydni Lewis 3-12 3-6 10; Meghan Oberg 2-9 1-1 6; Danae Marquez 2-7 0-0 5; Autam Mendez 1-5 0-2 3; Sophia Jones 0-1 1-2 1; Courtesy Clark 0-4 0-0 0; Analyss Benally 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 19-64 11-20 53.
BOISE ST. (5-0, 2-0 MW)
Jade Loville 6-16 10-12 22; Mallory McGwire 6-12 2-2 15; Rachel Bowers 6-11 2-2 14; Mary Kay Naro 3-6 0-0 7; Elodie Lalotte 2-6 0-0 4; Alexis Mark 2-7 0-0 4; Raigan Reed 1-2 0-0 2; Abby Muse 0-0 2-2 2; Martina Machalova 0-0 0-0 0; Anna Ostlie 0-1 0-0 0; Kimora Sykes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-61 16-18 70.
San Jose St................... 14 15 18 6 — 53
Boise St...................... 23 13 20 14 — 70
3-point goals — San Jose St. 4-25 (Mendez 1-3; Marquez 1-5; Oberg 1-6; Lewis 1-5; Clark 0-1; Benally 0-1; Jones 0-1; Potter 0-2; Whitehead 0-1), Boise St. 2-14 (Naro 1-2; McGwire 1-5; Mark 0-1; Reed 0-1; Ostlie 0-1; Bowers 0-2; Loville 0-2). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — San Jose St. 36 (Oberg 8; Whitehead 8), Boise St. 48 (McGwire 16). Assists — San Jose St. 6 (Oberg 2), Boise St. 14 (McGwire 5). Total fouls — San Jose St. 13, Boise St. 14. Technical fouls — None.
This story was originally published January 2, 2021 at 10:18 PM.
