Boise State takes ‘off the gloves’ in Mountain West opener vs. Fresno State
Sandwiched between a pair of Tyson Degenhart steals late in the fourth quarter came a pair of daggers from Marcus Shaver Jr.
The first jab was a pull-up jumper that broke a 50-all tie and the second was a perfectly timed 3-pointer that put the ExtraMile Arena crowd into a frenzy.
Behind Shaver’s 18 points, the Boise State men’s basketball team defeated Fresno State 65-55 in the Mountain West opener for both teams Tuesday night. It was the Broncos’ seventh straight win and gives them a perfect record in the month of December.
“Shaver is a baller,” Boise State senior Emmanuel Akot said. “I mean, day in, day out, every practice, he just comes to compete. He’s the best teammate you can have, so I really appreciate it.”
Fresno State (10-4, 0-1 MW), which entered as the Mountain West’s top defensive team, pulled ahead 50-48 with 6:12 left, spurred by a 12-2 run that included a stretch of 5 minutes in which the Broncos did not score a basket.
Seven-foot forward Orlando Robinson, who withdrew his name from the NBA Draft and returned for his junior season at Fresno State, scored 10 points during the run before the Broncos came back to life and finished the game with a 17-5 run of their own.
“Everybody just took off the gloves and just locked up on defense,” Shaver said. “We take pride in our defense, and it paid off tonight.”
Shaver found Mladen Armus in the paint for a dunk to end the Broncos’ scoring drought and force Fresno State to call a timeout with the score tied at 50 and 5:47 on the clock.
Degenhart then grabbed the first of his two steals following the Bulldogs’ timeout, and Shaver came up big to put the Broncos (10-4, 1-0) ahead for good.
“We’ve been in a lot of these tough games throughout the year,” said Akot, who contributed 12 points, including five in the final 3 minutes. “I think we’re getting comfortable in playing these kind of gritty games, and we just kept our composure having an experienced group.”
The Broncos shot 75% from 3-point range in the first half (6-for-8) and 47.4% for the game, making 9-of-19 from beyond the arc. Although their 3-point shooting cooled a bit in the second half, the Broncos were able to hit from deep when it mattered, including big triples from Shaver and Akot down the stretch.
Shaver finished 7-for-12 from the field and made four of Boise State’s nine 3-pointers while adding four rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. Armus joined Shaver and Akot in double figures with 12 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots, and Naje Smith had seven points off the bench.
Degenhart and Abu Kigab had six points apiece, and the Broncos outrebounded the defensive-minded Bulldogs 33-20.
“That was a great Mountain West basketball game and pretty much what I expected,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “I think there were two really good teams and two teams that can really, really guard.”
Boise State shot a blazing 65% from the floor in the first half — and a season-high 55.6% overall. The Broncos made seven straight baskets over a 5-minute span in the first half to go into the break leading 35-25.
“We have a balance to us. Out of the seven guys we played, there are a lot of guys that can get 20 on a given night,” Rice said. “We can have different guys (go off). That’s what makes us hard to guard.”
The Broncos next head to Laramie, Wyoming, for their first Mountain West road game of the season. Tipoff against the Cowboys is 2 p.m. Saturday at Arena-Auditorium, and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
Women’s basketball: Colorado State 81, Boise State 77
The Boise State women’s basketball team gave one-loss Colorado State all it could handle but ultimately fell short in the Mountain West opener for both teams Tuesday at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Sophomore Abby Muse scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed 12 boards. It was her second straight double-double, fourth of the season and fifth of her career.
“Our kids came of age a little bit, and I hope that is something we can begin to count on,” Boise State coach Gordy Presnell said in a news release. “We had a couple of tough calls there at the end that could have made a difference. There were other plays we made some mistakes on where we could have done something different.”
The Broncos (4-8, 0-1 MW) trailed by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter and were behind 74-66 with just over a minute to play.
Sophomore point guard Mary Kay Naro cut the Rams’ lead to five with a three-point play, and after a free throw from Colorado State (10-1, 1-0), fifth-year senior Dominique Leonidas knocked down a jumper to pull the Broncos within 75-71.
The Rams added a pair of free throws before sophomore Anna Ostlie drilled a 3-pointer to make the score 77-74 with just under 40 seconds remaining. The Broncos got within three points twice more down the stretch, but the Rams held off the upstart Broncos for their fifth straight win.
Leonidas (18), Naro (16) and freshman Trista Hull (10) each joined Muse in double figures.
The Broncos return home to host New Mexico at 2 p.m. Friday at ExtraMile Arena.
MW postpones games due to COVID-19
The Mountain West has already postponed a total of five men’s and women’s basketball games because of COVID-19.
COVID-19-related concerns within the Colorado State men’s basketball program forced the postponement of the conference opener between the Rams and New Mexico, which was scheduled for Tuesday in Albuquerque.
The San Jose State men’s basketball team is also experiencing COVID-19 issues, forcing the postponement of games against Nevada (Wednesday), Utah State (Saturday) and UNLV (Jan. 5). The Spartan women saw their opener Tuesday at New Mexico get postponed.
In response to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, the Mountain West adjusted its 2021-22 game cancellation policy to the following:
- If a Mountain West contest cannot be played as scheduled due to one or both teams’ inability to participate related specifically to COVID-19 issues, an effort will be made to reschedule the game, if possible. If a game cannot be played and cannot be rescheduled, it shall be canceled and considered a no contest.
- For men’s and women’s basketball, a minimum of seven student-athletes, along with one countable coach, must be available for an institution to participate in a contest.
- If an institution falls below the established threshold and is unable to participate, the game shall be canceled and deemed a no contest. A team may choose to participate with less than the minimum threshold of participants at its discretion.
- If a team has the requisite number of participants and chooses not to compete, the game shall be canceled and declared a forfeit.
- Forfeited Mountain West games will be recorded as a loss for the team choosing not to compete, and as a win for the scheduled opponent, for the purposes of conference standings, determining MW championship participants and MW championships seeding only. Per the NCAA, this does not change an institution’s official win-loss record.
- It is recognized that state, county, and local guidelines and virus circumstances shall always take precedence and may supersede conference thresholds or institutional decisions. In the event governmental parameters require a game to be canceled, it shall be declared a no contest.
MEN: BOISE ST. 65, FRESNO ST. 55
FRESNO ST. (10-4, 0-1 MW): Robinson 10-17 0-1 22, Ballard 0-5 0-0 0, Campbell 3-7 0-0 6, Hill 3-12 1-1 9, Colimerio 3-5 0-0 6, Yap 2-4 0-0 4, Stroud 3-7 0-0 6, Meah 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-58 1-2 55.
BOISE ST. (10-4, 1-0 MW): Armus 4-7 4-6 12, Degenhart 2-3 0-0 6, Kigab 3-7 0-2 6, Akot 5-9 0-0 12, Shaver 7-12 0-0 18, Rice 1-3 2-2 4, N.Smith 3-4 0-0 7. Totals 25-45 6-10 65.
Halftime—Boise St. 35-25. 3-Point Goals—Fresno St. 4-18 (Hill 2-4, Robinson 2-4, Colimerio 0-1, Stroud 0-1, Yap 0-1, Campbell 0-2, Ballard 0-5), Boise St. 9-19 (Shaver 4-7, Degenhart 2-3, Akot 2-5, N.Smith 1-2, Kigab 0-1, Rice 0-1). Rebounds—Fresno St. 17 (Robinson 5), Boise St. 32 (Kigab 8). Assists—Fresno St. 7 (Robinson 3), Boise St. 13 (Kigab 6). Total Fouls—Fresno St. 16, Boise St. 10.
WOMEN: COLORADO ST. 81, BOISE ST. 77
BOISE ST. (4-8, 0-1 MW): Abby Muse 10-13 2-4 22; Dominique Leonidas 8-18 2-2 18; Mary Kay Naro 6-7 4-6 16; Trista Hull 4-11 2-2 10; Anna Ostlie 2-9 1-2 7; Jayda Clark 1-5 0-0 2; Elodie Lalotte 1-5 0-2 2; Rachel Bowers 0-1 0-0 0; Linsey Lovrovich 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 32-70 11-18 77.
COLORADO ST. (10-1, 1-0 MW): McKenna Hofschild 9-19 13-20 32; Upe Atosu 4-11 9-11 19; Petra Farkas 6-11 2-2 16; Kendyll Kinzer 3-9 1-2 7; Clara Gomez 3-5 0-0 6; Bengisu Alper 0-1 1-2 1; Makayla Hemingway 0-1 0-0 0; Cali Clark 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-57 26-37 81.
Boise St...................... 15 18 18 26 — 77
Colorado St................... 12 21 23 25 — 81
3-point goals — Boise St. 2-12 (Ostlie 2-7; Leonidas 0-1; Hull 0-1; Clark 0-3), Colorado St. 5-14 (Atosu 2-4; Farkas 2-5; Hofschild 1-2; Kinzer 0-3). Fouled out — Boise St.-Leonidas, Colorado St.-None. Rebounds — Boise St. 41 (Muse 12), Colorado St. 38 (Kinzer 11). Assists — Boise St. 11 (Naro 4), Colorado St. 8 (Hofschild 4). Total fouls — Boise St. 23, Colorado St. 14. Technical fouls — None. A — 1,209.
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 8:46 PM.
