‘He be dunking on everybody.’ Kigab nets season high as Boise State hammers Prairie View A&M
Abu Kigab’s first shot was an “ill-advised” 3-point attempt, which earned him a seat on the bench.
When he returned to the court a few minutes later, Kigab was nothing but fire, scoring a season-high 32 points as the Boise State men’s basketball team pummeled Prairie View A&M 97-60 on Friday at ExtraMile Arena.
Kigab finished 10-for-12 from the floor and pulled down 10 rebounds to record just the 18th game in program history in which a player scored 30-plus points with 10 or more rebounds.
“My teammates made it easy for me,” said Kigab, who finished one point short of tying his career high of 33. “(Emmanuel Akot) was finding me. (Marcus) Shaver (Jr.) was finding me. All those guys were finding me. It was just a really easy game, because they were just really unselfish looking for me.”
In a game that featured a combined 54 fouls, the Broncos went to the free-throw line a whopping 52 times — the most attempts in the nation this season — making 33. The school record for free-throw attempts in a game is 55, set against Cal Poly in 1995.
“That was probably the longest game of my life,” said Shaver, who contributed 20 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Prairie View A&M was whistled for four technical fouls, and head coach Byron Smith was ejected with 3:41 remaining in the game after receiving his second technical of the game.
“Better him than me is what I was thinking,” Boise State coach Leon Rice joked.
While the end result was a dominant Boise State win and a ninth consecutive loss for Prairie View A&M (0-9), the Broncos (6-4) initially struggled to fend off the scrappy Panthers.
The score was tied at 21-all with 6:14 left in the first half when Shaver dished off to freshman Tyson Degenhart for a jumper in the paint to start a 14-0 Boise State run over a stretch of 4:32. The Broncos went up 36-23 at the half and had little trouble the rest of the way, extending their lead to as many as 42 points.
The Broncos treated the ExtraMile Arena crowd of 6,640 to a trio of high-flying dunks. Akot went coast-to-coast for a two-handed jam less than a minute into the second half, and then assisted Kigab on a pair of dunks, the first a one-handed throwdown in traffic and the second a tomahawk slam on the baseline with 7:06 to go.
Kigab once again deflected the credit for the acrobatic plays, but Shaver was quick to build his teammate up in postgame interviews.
“We see that in practice all the time,” Shaver said. “He be dunking on everybody.”
Boise State played Friday’s game with just nine players available. Sophomore guard Pavle Kuzmanovic and senior center Lukas Milner both sat out with injuries, and as of last week, guard Devonaire Doutrive is no longer a member of the team. That left three scholarship players and a walk-on on the bench, plus freshmen RJ Keene and Kobe Young, who are both redshirting this season.
“We’re coming together, and I love that,” Rice said. “We’ve just got to keep growing and keep building. We don’t have margin for error when you got eight guys right now. I mean, everyone’s probably sitting there going: ‘You’re up 30, why do you have a starter in there?’ I had no choice. The rest of the guys on the bench are redshirting. We even discussed, do we pull one off now? But we don’t want to think short term.
“We tried to feel it out for tonight’s game and hopefully we can get those two healthy again, because we need them.”
Eight of the nine Broncos who played registered points. Degenhart reached double figures for the fourth straight game with 16 points, and Akot and redshirt junior Max Rice had nine points apiece. Max Rice connected on a 3-pointer in the first half for his first triple of the season.
“I kind of had to yell at him tonight to shoot the ball,” Leon Rice said. “That’s his job, so it was good for him to see one go in. A guy like that has to understand that the lid is not on the basket. It never is with a guy like that, and he’s made them all his life.”
The Broncos continue their three-game homestand Tuesday when they host Santa Clara (7-3) at 7 p.m. in ExtraMile Arena. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network. Fans who bring new coats or shoes to donate to the Avalos Family Christmas Drive on Tuesday can purchase a game ticket for $5.
Women’s basketball: Boise State 72, Eastern Washington 63
The Broncos won back-to-back games for the first time this season behind a career night from redshirt senior Dominique Leonidas.
Leonidas, a transfer from Brown, scored a career-high 28 points to help the Broncos down Eastern Washington on Friday in Cheney, Washington.
“She was terrific,” Boise State coach Gordy Presnell said in a news release. “She hit big shots, made key free throws down the stretch, made great passes and played solid defense.”
Boise State (3-5) led 50-45 with 2:51 left in the third quarter before the Broncos went on 8-2 run, keyed by six Leonidas points, to lead 58-47 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Eagles (2-5) trimmed that lead to 68-63 with 29 seconds remaining, but Leonidas went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to close out the victory.
Sophomore Elodie Lalotte notched a career-high 16 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season, and Abby Muse added 10 points and 12 rebounds for her second straight double-double.
The Broncos continue a three-game road stretch at Washington State at 1 p.m. Mountain time Sunday.
MEN: BOISE ST. 97, PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 60
PRAIRIE VIEW (0-9): Bell 4-7 0-1 8, Cox 1-8 3-4 5, Daniels 1-8 0-0 2, Douglas 2-7 2-2 6, Gambrell 2-7 0-0 6, Roberts 5-14 11-12 21, Kendall 1-2 0-0 2, Guess 2-3 0-0 4, McDougal 1-4 0-0 2, Myles 0-1 0-0 0, Ware 1-2 0-0 2, Edgar 1-1 0-0 2, Ifejeh 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-64 16-19 60.
BOISE ST. (6-4): Armus 3-5 0-3 6, Degenhart 5-10 2-6 16, Kigab 10-12 12-18 32, Akot 3-8 2-4 9, Shaver 4-9 11-14 20, Rice 1-4 6-6 9, N.Smith 1-3 0-1 2, Pryor 0-0 0-0 0, Winter 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 28-52 33-52 97.
Halftime—Boise St. 36-23. 3-Point Goals—Prairie View 2-16 (Gambrell 2-6, Cox 0-2, Douglas 0-2, Daniels 0-3, Roberts 0-3), Boise St. 8-20 (Degenhart 4-5, Winter 1-1, Rice 1-3, Shaver 1-4, Akot 1-5, Kigab 0-1, N.Smith 0-1). Fouled Out—Douglas, Kendall. Rebounds—Prairie View 31 (Bell 5), Boise St. 38 (Kigab 10). Assists—Prairie View 3 (Douglas, McDougal, Edgar 1), Boise St. 12 (Akot, Shaver, N.Smith 3). Total Fouls—Prairie View 37, Boise St. 14. A—6,646 (12,480).
WOMEN: BOISE ST. 72, E. WASHINGTON 63
BOISE ST. (3-5): Dominique Leonidas 9-18 9-9 28; Elodie Lalotte 7-12 2-4 16; Abby Muse 4-7 2-6 10; Mary Kay Naro 2-9 2-2 7; Anna Ostlie 2-8 0-2 6; Rachel Bowers 1-1 1-2 3; Trista Hull 1-4 0-0 2; Kaitlin Burgess 0-3 0-0 0; Linsey Lovrovich 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-64 16-25 72.
E. WASHINGTON (2-5): Jaleesa Lawrence 7-16 5-7 22; Jaydia Martin 5-18 4-4 15; Alexis Pettis 2-4 3-4 7; Jordyn Boesel 2-5 1-2 6; Andie Zylak 2-9 2-2 6; Milly Knowles 1-4 1-2 3; Britt Van Buren 1-2 1-2 3; Nuria Cunill 0-0 1-2 1; Devynn Warns 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 18-25 63.
Boise St...................... 18 16 24 14 — 72
Eastern Wash.................. 17 16 14 16 — 63
3-point goals — Boise St. 4-17 (Ostlie 2-7; Naro 1-3; Leonidas 1-5; Burgess 0-2), Eastern Wash. 5-12 (Lawrence 3-4; Martin 1-5; Boesel 1-3). Fouled out — Boise St.-None, Eastern Wash.-Alexis Pettis. Rebounds — Boise St. 45 (Muse 12), Eastern Wash. 36 (Lawrence 7). Assists — Boise St. 15 (Ostlie 5), Eastern Wash. 11 (Pettis 4). Total fouls — Boise St. 22, Eastern Wash. 25. Technical fouls — None. A — 394.
This story was originally published December 10, 2021 at 9:14 PM.
