‘Sometimes you’ve gotta win ugly.’ Boise State overcomes sloppy first half for victory
The Boise State men’s basketball team had more turnovers than rebounds at halftime.
“Sometimes you’ve gotta win ugly,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said.
Despite committing a season-high 19 turnovers, the Broncos outlasted Fresno State 63-53 in a Mountain West matchup Tuesday night at ExtraMile Arena. With the win, the Broncos (16-5, 6-2 MW) maintain a share of second place in the league standings behind San Diego State (15-4, 6-1).
“It’s not the mistakes, it’s the response,” Rice said. “And we had egregious mistakes and terrific response, so I was really proud of our guys.”
In a difficult-to-watch first half, the Broncos missed their first four shots while simultaneously committing four turnovers to fall behind Fresno State 7-0. Boise State didn’t make its first basket until sophomore Tyson Degenhart scored on a hook shot with 15:09 on the clock.
“They were way better than people think,” said Boise State redshirt senior Max Rice of Fresno State, which has wins over New Mexico and UNLV. “They play super hard on defense and they’re a good team.”
While the Broncos struggled to take care of the basketball early, the Bulldogs (7-12, 3-5) built as much as a nine-point lead, 15-6, with 8:47 remaining in the first half. But Boise State whittled away at Fresno State’s lead by hitting three triples over the final 7:56 to go into halftime down just 25-23.
“They created a lot of problems for us with their defense making us turn the ball over so they get credit,” Leon Rice said. “But we threw some directly out of bounds and did some things that were really out of character. I mean, Max, he went three months without a turnover and he had seven (tonight). Hopefully we’ll never see that again in his career. But, the bottom line, it’s a zero-sum game and we came out on the right side, and that’s what’s important in these league games.”
The Broncos scored the first six points of the second half to pull ahead for good while holding the Bulldogs to just 2-for-25 from 3-point range.
Fresno State cut the Broncos’ lead to four, 44-40, with 5:47 to play, but Boise State once again turned to the 3-point line to squash any hope the Bulldogs had of a comeback.
Junior Chibuzo Agbo sank back-to-back triples to push the Broncos’ lead back to 10, and Max Rice curled off a screen and nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 44 seconds left to assure the victory. Boise State finished 7-for-13 from beyond the arc and shot 48.9% from the floor overall to overcome a sloppy first half and a night in which it did not receive any points from its bench.
“We dodged some bullets probably, but that’s basketball,” Leon Rice said. “You’re just finding a way this time of year. I was really proud of the way we regrouped at halftime. I thought we played pretty good in the second half.”
All five of the Broncos’ starters finished in double figures, led by fifth-year senior Marcus Shaver Jr. with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Degenhart and Max Rice each chipped in 13 points, Agbo had 11 points and Naje Smith contributed 10 points and six rebounds.
The Broncos remain at home for a league contest against Colorado State on Saturday. Tipoff is 6 p.m. at ExtraMile Arena, and the game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network, or listen on the radio on KBOI 670 AM or 93.1 FM.
BOISE ST. 63, FRESNO ST. 53
Andre 6-11 1-2 13, Baker 2-13 0-0 5, Hill 6-14 2-3 14, Colimerio 4-7 0-0 8, Holland 0-3 4-7 4, Campbell 3-5 0-2 7, Whitaker 0-1 0-0 0, Yap 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 22-56 7-14 53.
Degenhart 5-7 2-2 13, N.Smith 4-8 2-3 10, Agbo 4-9 0-0 11, M.Rice 5-9 0-0 13, Shaver 4-12 8-8 16, Milner 0-0 0-0 0, Young 0-0 0-0 0, Whiting 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-45 12-13 63.
Halftime—Fresno St. 25-23.3-Point Goals—Fresno St. 2-25 (Campbell 1-3, Baker 1-10, Whitaker 0-1, Yap 0-1, Colimerio 0-2, Holland 0-3, Hill 0-5), Boise St. 7-13 (M.Rice 3-3, Agbo 3-5, Degenhart 1-3, Shaver 0-2).Rebounds—Fresno St. 27 (Andre 12), Boise St. 27 (N.Smith, Shaver 6).Assists—Fresno St. 9 (Hill 7), Boise St. 6 (Shaver 4).Total Fouls—Fresno St. 13, Boise St. 13.A—9,010 (12,480).
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 10:39 PM.
