Boise State makes statement with sweep of Utah State in pivotal Mountain West series
Mladen Armus is the kind of hard-working teammate everybody loves. He can twist, turn and finagle his way into an otherwise unreachable offensive rebound.
But the 6-foot-10 Serb is much more than just a beastly body on the glass, and that becomes more apparent with every passing Boise State men’s basketball game.
Armus scored the go-ahead bucket with 2:18 remaining and added an insurance floater off the window 31 seconds later to push Boise State to an 81-77 victory over Utah State on Friday night at ExtraMile Arena.
The Broncos (18-4, 14-3 MW) earned the Mountain West series sweep of the Aggies (14-7, 11-4) to maintain first place in the conference standings and further boost their NCAA Tournament resume heading into the final leg of their regular-season schedule. The 14 conference victories are tied for the most in program history.
“Mladen has just been improving throughout the season, and it just shows every single game,” Boise State senior Abu Kigab said in a postgame Zoom interview. “He’s a great passer out of the post, especially when guys are doing split actions. He sees it every single time. He’s great going to his left hand and spinning to his right shoulder. He has an arsenal that he uses, and he’s going to do that every single day for us.”
Armus finished a rebound short of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass. He also contributed three assists and two blocked shots in 27 minutes. Armus made a particularly crucial rebound on the defensive end with the Broncos leading 78-75 and the Aggies on the attack with less than 30 seconds to play. Once he pulled down the board, Armus handed the basketball off to Kigab with the Broncos in the double bonus, knowing Kigab was the better free-throw shooter.
The move paid off, as the Aggies immediately fouled Kigab, who then made both free throws to give Boise State a two-possession lead, 80-75, with 11.2 seconds left.
“I just feel so comfortable around these guys and feel good. I’m just enjoying playing with them,” Armus said. “That is coming naturally. It was always there, but it clicked with Boise State and those guys and how much they trust me with the ball and coaches, too. We kind of clicked together.”
For the second straight game, the Broncos trailed the Aggies at halftime, 37-30, and they fell behind by nine points early in the second half. It took a display of dominance from leading scorer Derrick Alston Jr. to finally get Boise State back on track.
Alston scored nine straight points for the Broncos over a stretch of 2 minutes, 39 seconds. His two-handed dunk off an assist from Armus completed the run and put Boise State out front 71-68 with 4:08 to go. Alston reached the 20-point mark for the 12th time this season and 34th time in his career with 23 points. He also moved to No. 11 on Boise State’s all-time scoring list with 1,391 points, passing Ron Austin (1,378 points; 1968-71).
“He had an amazing second half — competitive and strong and just did things that were terrific,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “But I think everybody kind of did their role and helped him with that. He didn’t have to do all the lifting on his own, and that’s what made it so special.”
Utah State 7-footer Neemias Queta, who totaled 30 points and 11 rebounds, later tied the game at 71-all on a dunk, and the moment seemed to inspire a competitive streak in Armus. He responded by scoring Boise State’s next two baskets on left-handed floaters off the glass with Queta defending him.
“He made terrific finishes over one of the best shot blockers in the country,” Rice said.
Joining Armus and Alston in double figures were Kigab (19 points) and RayJ Dennis (10 points). Kigab scored 16 of his points in the second half and finished 6-for-8 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. All nine Broncos who logged playing time scored two points or more.
Boise State’s 51-point second half was fueled by a blistering 73.9% (17-for-23) shooting performance that included a 4-for-6 effort from the 3-point line.
“You’ve gotta win games down the stretch, and you’ve gotta win big games in February,” Rice said. “You look around and there’s a lot of people losing these games. They’re hard fought, and you saw how good the team we played was. Everybody’s fighting for their lives, and it’s a credit to our guys. They found a way and they battled for 80 minutes.”
The Broncos will be on the road next week for a two-game series against San Diego State. The games are scheduled for 7 p.m. MT on Thursday (Fox Sports 1) and 2 p.m. Saturday (CBS Sports Network) at Viejas Arena in San Diego, California.
Boise State also has a makeup game looming with Fresno State after the game was postponed on Jan. 22 because of a false positive COVID-19 test within the BSU program. That game has yet to be rescheduled, but Rice said Friday that it was “still on the table.”
BOISE ST. 81, UTAH ST. 77
UTAH ST. (14-7, 11-4 MW)
Bean 4-7 3-3 11, Queta 14-19 2-4 30, Anthony 3-12 2-4 9, Ashworth 3-8 0-0 7, Miller 4-8 0-0 10, Anderson 4-8 0-0 8, Shulga 1-3 0-0 2, Dorius 0-1 0-0 0, Bairstow 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-66 7-11 77.
BOISE ST. (18-4, 14-3 MW)
Armus 5-7 3-4 13, Kigab 6-8 6-6 19, Alston 8-17 4-4 23, Dennis 3-5 2-4 10, Shaver 1-5 0-0 2, Akot 1-5 0-0 2, Rice 2-3 0-0 5, Doutrive 1-1 1-2 3, Milner 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 29-54 16-20 81.
Halftime—Utah St. 37-30. 3-Point Goals—Utah St. 4-14 (Miller 2-5, Anthony 1-3, Ashworth 1-4, Bean 0-1, Shulga 0-1), Boise St. 7-17 (Alston 3-7, Dennis 2-2, Kigab 1-2, Rice 1-2, Shaver 0-1, Akot 0-3). Rebounds—Utah St. 31 (Queta 11), Boise St. 24 (Armus 9). Assists—Utah St. 14 (Ashworth 5), Boise St. 15 (Shaver 4). Total Fouls—Utah St. 18, Boise St. 15. A—872 (12,480).
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 12:18 AM.
