Boise State men’s basketball closes out Myrtle Beach tourney with win over Colorado
.jpeg "Marcus Shaver Jr. finished with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds as Boise State defeated Colorado 68-55.")
The Boise State men’s basketball team will return home from Conway, South Carolina, without a championship at the Myrtle Beach Invitational, but the Broncos are still smiling.
After one of the poorest shooting performances in program history in their tournament-opening loss to Charlotte, the Broncos won back-to-back games, culminating with a 68-55 victory over Colorado on Sunday at the HTC Center.
“Would we like to be 3-0? Absolutely,” Boise State coach Leon Rice told 670 AM in a postgame radio interview. “But I’m not sure if I’d even trade that for the growth that we had. I think I’ll take that adversity and growth. Maybe that’s crazy.”
The Broncos (3-2) earned a Quadrant 1 victory Sunday by beating Colorado, which is ranked No. 45 in KenPom, and made it a sweep of Pac-12 opponents this season after defeating Washington State on Nov. 12. They added a 70-48 win over Loyola Chicago on Friday.
“We’ve got a lot of new guys out there doing a lot of new things,” Rice said. “That’s why these tournaments are great, because it gives them that opportunity to grow. And we got a lot of guys some great experience against some quality opponents. We had to get better. It forced us to get better. I told the guys, ‘I love adversity because that’s how we grow.’”
Boise State fifth-year senior Marcus Shaver Jr., the Broncos’ second-leading scorer last season, entered Sunday’s game just 2-for-12 from 3-point range. But he found his stroke against Colorado, going 3-for-3 from deep in the first half as the Broncos built a 41-33 halftime lead.
Shaver finished with a season-best 20 points to go with 10 rebounds, two assists and three steals. The 6-foot-2 point guard is averaging a team-leading 9.0 rebounds per game this season despite being one of the shortest players on the Broncos’ roster.
“It’s just my teammates making that pocket open for me to just go up there and grab it. That’s really it,” Shaver said. “Me and (Mladen Armus) and Abu (Kigab) would always fight for rebounds last year, but credit to my teammates for boxing out their man so I’m able to sneak in there and grab 10 boards.”
Boise State held Colorado to just 26.7% shooting in the second half and 10.0% from beyond the arc. The Buffs got as close as 60-51 with 3:24 to play before the Broncos sank 8-of-8 from the free-throw line over the final 2:46 to seal the win.
The Broncos continue nonconference play against Utah Valley on Saturday. Tipoff is 2 p.m. at ExtraMile Arena. The game will be streamed online at broncosports.com/mwn, or listen on the radio on KBOI 670 AM.
Women’s basketball: Broncos top Portland State
Junior forward Elodie Lalotte scored a career high for the second straight game, netting 25 points to lead the Boise State women’s basketball team past Portland State 71-61 on Sunday afternoon at ExtraMile Arena.
Lalotte finished 11-for-17 shooting to break her previous career high of 22 points, which she scored Thursday in a loss to UC Davis.
“We established our post play early,” Boise State coach Gordy Presnell said. “We had a great presence down low, which led to some open outside shots for us. It was a good win.”
Boise State forward Abby Muse added 11 points and five rebounds as the Broncos scored a season-best 38 points in the paint. Dani Bayes (13 points) and Natalie Pasco (11 points) also scored in double figures for the Broncos.
The Broncos (3-2) will spend Thanksgiving weekend in Reno, Nevada, for the Nugget Classic. Boise State first plays North Dakota State (3-0) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. MT, followed by a game against Milwaukee (1-3) at 11 a.m. MT Sunday.
This story was originally published November 20, 2022 at 7:07 PM.
