‘Couple tough breaks’ cost Boise State a win in Mountain West opener at Nevada
Pavle Kuzmanovic’s only basket of the game gave Boise State a one-point lead with 13.4 seconds left, but the lead didn’t stick.
Kenan Blackshear beat Kuzmanovic to the basket on the other end, putting Nevada ahead for good in a 74-72 victory over Boise State in the Mountain West opener for both teams Wednesday at Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada.
“We’ll get back, we’ll regroup and we’ll respond the right way,” Boise State men’s basketball coach Leon Rice told KBOI 670-AM in a postgame radio interview. “We always do. But this league is not going to be decided on one loss, and that’s what these guys have to know. I like starting on the road. It would have been nice to get that feather in our cap, but a couple tough breaks.”
Boise State starters Tyson Degenhart and Naje Smith fouled out with 3:41 and 2:04 to play, respectively, forcing the Broncos (10-4, 0-1 MW) to turn to their bench.
Smith’s fifth foul on a Will Baker turnaround jumper knotted the game at 67-all and set up a back-and-forth finish that saw the two teams exchange the lead six times over the final 1:36.
“We know coming out that every team is gonna give us their best and most physical game,” Smith said. “Coming out being Mountain West champs from last year, everyone’s got our backs, and we definitely have to come out and play. The physicality definitely affected us at first, but we just need to learn to adjust better.”
Playing in his first game since Dec. 10 after returning from an undisclosed injury, Marcus Shaver Jr. scored six of Boise State’s final nine points. Shaver went 8-for-16 from the field for a team-best 22 points. His acrobatic layup with 46 seconds left gave the Broncos a 70-69 lead.
“He’s a great player, and I was proud of him,” Rice said. “He’s only practiced a couple days and for him to play that well with a couple days of practice, that was tough.”
Down 30-27 to Nevada (11-3, 1-0) at halftime, fifth-year senior Naje Smith sparked the Broncos to start the second half, scoring 10 points in a row during a four-minute span. Smith finished with a career-high 20 points on 9-for-14 shooting to go with five rebounds, two assists and one steal. Chibuzo Agbo recorded his second-career double double with 15 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, and Degenhart added 10 points and three rebounds.
Boise State led by as many as seven points, 64-56, with 4:22 to go and outrebounded the Wolf Pack 38-28, including 10 offensive boards that led to seven second-chance points.
“You can feel it for the rest of the night, but when it comes to tomorrow, you just have to reset your mind and realize it’s a long season,” Smith said. “We’re not playing our best basketball, and we don’t want to be playing our best basketball until the tournament, so it’s just a learning curve for us and we have to learn from it and get better.”
The Broncos continue Mountain West play with their conference home opener against San Jose State. Tipoff is 7 p.m. Tuesday at ExtraMile Arena, and the game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network, or listen on the radio on KBOI 670 AM.
NEVADA 74, BOISE ST. 72
Degenhart 4-6 0-0 10, N.Smith 9-14 2-4 20, Agbo 4-11 4-6 15, M.Rice 0-4 2-2 2, Shaver 8-16 6-6 22, Whiting 0-2 0-0 0, Milner 0-0 1-4 1, Young 0-1 0-0 0, Kuzmanovic 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 26-55 15-22 72.
Coleman 2-4 1-2 7, Williams 1-4 0-0 3, Baker 4-7 5-6 13, Blackshear 7-12 6-7 20, Lucas 3-13 5-6 14, Davidson 3-4 0-0 8, Foster 0-0 0-0 0, Powell 3-5 0-0 8, Pettigrew 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 23-50 18-23 74.
Halftime—Nevada 30-27. 3-Point Goals—Boise St. 5-16 (Agbo 3-3, Degenhart 2-3, Young 0-1, M.Rice 0-2, N.Smith 0-2, Whiting 0-2, Shaver 0-3), Nevada 10-23 (Lucas 3-6, Davidson 2-2, Coleman 2-4, Powell 2-4, Williams 1-4, Blackshear 0-1, Baker 0-2). Fouled Out—Degenhart, N.Smith. Rebounds—Boise St. 32 (Agbo 11), Nevada 25 (Coleman 7). Assists—Boise St. 11 (Shaver 3), Nevada 14 (Blackshear 5). Total Fouls—Boise St. 22, Nevada 18. A—7,911 (11,536).
This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 11:26 PM.
