Boise State retakes top spot in Mountain West standings with victory at Air Force
Lukas Milner got his first chance to shine in a Boise State uniform, and coach Leon Rice believes there are only more moments to come.
Milner scored a career-high 13 points on 6-for-6 shooting to help shorthanded Boise State blow past Air Force 85-59 on Wednesday at Clune Arena in USAFA, Colorado. The victory moves the Broncos a half-game ahead of Wyoming in the race for the Mountain West regular-season title.
“The thing that I’ve been saying about Lukas all along is when his experience and his confidence catches up to his ability, he’s gonna be a heck of a player,” Rice said. “There’s times at practice where he’s one of our best players. … He just hasn’t had enough game experience. He hasn’t been playing basketball that long.”
The Broncos defeated the Falcons (10-14, 3-10 MW) without starting point guard Emmanuel Akot, who missed his fourth straight game with a knee injury, and key reserve Naje Smith (illness).
The rest of the squad stepped up in their absence, with nine players seeing time on the court and eight contributing two points or more.
“We all practice for different situations if some guys are out,” Milner said. “It’s a next-man-up mentality. We all know what it takes to keep it going.”
Milner’s 13 points and three rebounds in 14 minutes were just one highlight in a milestone night for the Broncos.
- Boise State shot a combined 68.8% (33-for-48) from the floor, which is the best overall shooting percentage in 12 seasons under Rice and the highest since the Broncos connected on 70.3% against Montana Tech on Nov. 21, 2007.
- The Broncos improved to 20-6 overall and 11-2 in conference play, reaching the 20-win threshold for the ninth time under Rice. Boise State had won 20 games or more just seven times prior to Rice’s arrival.
- The Broncos won a school-record-tying sixth conference road game. There have been 22 instances of a team winning at least six conference road games in Mountain West history, and 16 of those 22 teams went on to win at least a share of the regular-season title.
- Redshirt junior Max Rice finished with a season-high 14 points, knocking down four 3-pointers to tie a career high. He is now 7-for-15 from beyond the arc in his past two games. The Broncos sank 10-of-18 from 3-point range for their highest percentage of the season (55.6%).
- Redshirt senior Mladen Armus matched his career high with six of Boise State’s 18 assists. Armus also added 10 points and five rebounds.
The Broncos made their first five shots of the game and closed the first half with six straight makes. Redshirt senior Marcus Shaver Jr. spearheaded the red-hot-shooting first half by scoring 18 of his game-leading 20 points. Boise State shot 79.3% from the floor (17-for-23) in the first half, including a 63.6% clip from 3-point range (7-for-11), for a 14-point halftime lead.
“I think maybe having a shortened bench … we wanted to make sure that we got great shots tonight,” Leon Rice said. “We were patient and we moved the ball well.”
Boise State will be back at home Saturday for a rematch against Utah State. Tipoff for the Mountain West contest is at 4 p.m. at ExtraMile Arena, and the game will be televised on CBS Sports Network, or listen on the radio on 670 AM. The Broncos defeated the Aggies 62-59 on a game-winning 3-pointer from Shaver on Jan. 20 in Logan, Utah.
BOISE ST. 85, AIR FORCE 59
BOISE ST. (20-6, 11-2 MW): Armus 4-5 2-2 10, Degenhart 3-5 2-2 9, Kigab 4-5 1-1 9, Rice 5-9 0-0 14, Shaver 7-11 3-3 20, Kuzmanovic 3-5 0-0 8, Milner 6-6 1-1 13, Pryor 1-2 0-0 2, Winter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-48 9-9 85.
AIR FORCE (10-14, 3-10 MW): Jackson 1-1 3-3 5, Heidbreder 6-11 2-2 18, Taylor 2-8 0-1 4, Vander Zwaag 1-6 0-0 2, Walker 8-12 1-2 19, Mills 2-4 0-1 4, Moerman 1-4 0-0 2, C.Murphy 2-3 0-0 5, Kinrade 0-2 0-0 0, B.Brown 0-0 0-0 0, K.Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-51 6-9 59.
Halftime—Boise St. 45-31. 3-Point Goals—Boise St. 10-18 (Rice 4-8, Shaver 3-4, Kuzmanovic 2-3, Degenhart 1-1, Kigab 0-1, Pryor 0-1), Air Force 7-24 (Heidbreder 4-8, Walker 2-4, C.Murphy 1-1, Mills 0-1, Kinrade 0-2, Moerman 0-2, Taylor 0-3, Vander Zwaag 0-3). Rebounds—Boise St. 28 (Degenhart 6), Air Force 13 (Heidbreder 3). Assists—Boise St. 18 (Armus 6), Air Force 12 (Jackson 4). Total Fouls—Boise St. 16, Air Force 14. A—1,850 (5,858).
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 9:55 PM.
