One Bronco gives the shoes off his feet after Boise State’s victory over UNLV
After chasing around UNLV’s Bryce Hamilton — the Mountain West’s leading scorer — for 38 of the game’s 40 minutes, it looked as though Abu Kigab had nothing left to give.
But there’s one young Boise State fan who knows better.
Kigab scored a team-leading 18 points in Boise State’s 69-63 win over UNLV and then took the shoes off his feet, autographed them and handed them over to a grateful fan Friday night at ExtraMile Arena.
“The heart of a lion. He’s just a warrior. That kid, he’s amazing,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said of Kigab. “... He’s just an amazing person, and I was thinking about that today. I am going to enjoy every single day I get with these guys, because it’s a special group. Great to be around, great to do battle with.”
Said Kigab: “I wish someone did that when I was younger, so I’m like, I want to give that moment to somebody.”
Although Hamilton scored 32 of UNLV’s 63 points on 12-for-24 shooting, it was Boise State’s balanced attack and unselfish play that proved the difference. Despite playing without injured starting point guard Emmanuel Akot for the second straight game, four Broncos scored in double figures and seven contributed three or more points in the win.
True freshman Tyson Degenhart netted 15 points and seven rebounds, redshirt senior Marcus Shaver Jr. added 13 points and three assists and redshirt senior Mladen Armus totaled 12 points and seven rebounds.
Boise State overcame a seven point halftime deficit — its largest of the season — and trailed UNLV 47-46 with 12:30 to play before rallying for its 16th win in the past 17 games. The Broncos (19-5, 10-1 MW) move a half-game ahead of Wyoming (20-3, 9-1) for first place in the Mountain West standings. The Cowboys play at last-place San Jose State on Saturday.
“We are a team,” Armus said. “If (there’s) one man down, we recover for him and keep fighting.”
With the Broncos clinging to a two-point lead with under 8 minutes to play, Degenhart sank a 3-pointer and followed it up less than a minute later with a jumper on the block courtesy of a Shaver bounce pass through traffic to push Boise State’s advantage to 59-52 with 6:27 to go.
UNLV got as close as 60-59 with 2:09 remaining before Kigab and the Broncos made one final push.
Armus, who is averaging just 39% from the free-throw line this season, connected on two freebies at the 1:53 mark, Kigab drilled a triple for a 65-61 lead and then made two free throws with 24.2 seconds to score in double digits for the fifth straight game. He also drew 11 fouls and went 8-for-10 at the line.
Although the Broncos remain one of the worst free-throw shooting teams in all of Division I, ranking 354th out of 358 teams, they went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line over the final 1:53 and finished 23-for-29 from the line against the Rebels. Over their past six games, the Broncos have gone 80-for-102 at the stripe.
“We’ve played so many games, and we’ve been in those situations so many times,” Kigab said. “We’re prepared. I think that’s something that separates us, and it’s going to continue to separate us.”
And thanks to his generous gesture, Kigab won’t have long to find a new pair of shoes.
The Broncos play their second Mountain West game in three days when they host Colorado State on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at ExtraMile Arena, and the game will be televised on Fox Sports 1, or listen on the radio on 670 AM.
Women’s basketball: Broncos falter late
Utah State closed out the game on an 11-3 run to earn a 63-55 win over Boise State on Saturday afternoon at Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah.
It was the Broncos’ fifth loss in the last six games.
Sophomore Abby Muse scored in double figures for the fifth straight game, notching a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds, to lead the Broncos. Fellow sophomore Mary Kay Naro added 11 points, including a 3-for-6 performance from 3-point range, before fouling out. Elodie Lalotte pulled down a career-high 14 boards to go with six points.
Naro banked in a 3-pointer with 1:26 remaining to pull the Broncos within 58-55, but the Broncos (8-16, 4-9 MW) didn’t score the rest of the way.
On Wednesday, Boise State lost 69-52 to first-place UNLV at ExtraMile Arena. Muse paced the Broncos with 15 points.
The Broncos continue a three-game road trip Tuesday against Air Force. Tipoff is 6:30 p.m. at Clune Arena in USAFA, Colorado, and the game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network, or listen on the radio on 670 AM.
MEN: BOISE ST. 69, UNLV 63
UNLV (14-11, 6-6 MW)
Hamm 1-5 0-0 3, Gilbert 0-1 0-0 0, Hamilton 12-24 4-7 32, McCabe 4-9 0-0 9, Nuga 5-10 0-0 12, Muoka 1-1 0-0 2, Webster 2-3 0-0 5, Iwuakor 0-2 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Baker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-55 4-7 63.
BOISE ST. (19-5, 10-1 MW)
Armus 4-9 4-5 12, Degenhart 6-12 2-4 15, Kigab 4-11 8-10 18, Rice 1-3 1-2 3, Shaver 4-11 4-4 13, Kuzmanovic 1-2 2-2 4, N.Smith 1-2 2-2 4, Milner 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-51 23-29 69.
Halftime—UNLV 36-29. 3-Point Goals—UNLV 9-24 (Hamilton 4-9, Nuga 2-6, Webster 1-1, McCabe 1-3, Hamm 1-4, Iwuakor 0-1), Boise St. 4-20 (Kigab 2-5, Degenhart 1-5, Shaver 1-7, Kuzmanovic 0-1, Rice 0-2). Fouled Out—Iwuakor. Rebounds—UNLV 23 (Hamm 7), Boise St. 33 (Armus, Degenhart 7). Assists—UNLV 8 (McCabe 6), Boise St. 7 (Shaver 3). Total Fouls—UNLV 24, Boise St. 13. A—7,660 (12,480).
WOMEN: UTAH ST. 63, BOISE ST. 55
BOISE ST. (8-16, 4-9 MW): Abby Muse 6-9 5-6 17; Mary Kay Naro 3-8 2-2 11; Anna Ostlie 3-11 0-0 7; Dominique Leonidas 3-10 0-1 6; Elodie Lalotte 3-10 0-0 6; Linsey Lovrovich 1-3 1-2 4; Rachel Bowers 1-3 0-0 2; Jayda Clark 1-9 0-0 2; Trista Hull 0-0 0-0 0; Sydney McQuietor 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-64 8-11 55.
UTAH ST. (8-16, 3-11 MW): Adryana Quezada 6-12 8-11 20; Shyla Latone 5-15 4-4 17; Emmie Harris 5-9 0-0 12; E’Lease Stafford 4-9 0-0 9; Manna Mensah 0-3 2-2 2; Laci Hawthorne 0-2 2-2 2; Kaylin Randhawa 0-1 1-2 1; Taylor Franson 0-0 0-0 0; Olivia Wikstrom 0-3 0-0 0; Kinley Falslev 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-55 17-21 63.
Boise St...................... 12 14 12 17 — 55
Utah St....................... 10 13 20 20 — 63
3-point goals — Boise St. 5-19 (Naro 3-6; Lovrovich 1-1; Ostlie 1-6; Clark 0-5; Leonidas 0-1), Utah St. 6-22 (Latone 3-9; Harris 2-5; Stafford 1-3; Randhawa 0-1; Wikstrom 0-1; Falslev 0-1; Mensah 0-2). Fouled out — Boise St.-Bowers; Naro, Utah St.-None. Rebounds — Boise St. 45 (Lalotte 14), Utah St. 38 (Stafford 7; Quezada 7). Assists — Boise St. 13 (Leonidas 3; Naro 3), Utah St. 15 (Latone 4; Randhawa 4). Total fouls — Boise St. 21, Utah St. 15. Technical fouls — None. A — 535.
This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 11:28 PM.
