‘Nothing he loves more than basketball.’ Rice’s big night lifts Boise State over New Mexico
Max Rice sank a deep 3-pointer with 4:58 left in the game and the ExtraMile Arena crowd erupted. It couldn’t possibly get any louder.
Oh, but it could.
Rice swished another 3-pointer from the same spot a possession later, igniting cheers so loud that Boise State coach Leon Rice had to write plays down during a timeout to get his message across.
Riding the roar of the 9,825 fans in attendance, the Broncos rallied from as much as a 13-point deficit to defeat New Mexico 82-77 in a Mountain West matchup Wednesday. The victory kept the Broncos (22-6, 12-3 MW) alone in second place in the league standings — a game back of San Diego State (22-5, 13-2) — with three regular-season games remaining.
Max Rice finished with a career-high 30 points on 9-for-20 shooting, including five 3-pointers and a 7-for-8 performance from the free-throw line.
“There’s nothing he loves more than basketball and being in a title race,” Leon Rice said of his middle son. “That’s why he’s good. Because there’s a lot of good players who have a lot of interest. But then there’s the really good ones — they just love basketball and that’s all they want to do. That’s Max.”
It was a labor of love for the Broncos on Wednesday night as they avenged an 81-79 overtime loss to the Lobos on Jan. 20 in Albuquerque. New Mexico (20-8, 7-8) was riding high at the time but has gone 2-6 since that game to fall out of the NCAA Tournament picture.
Boise State, which won its fourth straight, is having no such problem and has gone 7-1 since that loss.
Junior guard Chibuzo Agbo got the scoring started on the Broncos’ opening possession Wednesday with a 3-pointer, and Boise State led 20-15 with 10:57 remaining in the first half. But the Broncos went quiet, missing 11 of their next 12 shots as New Mexico went on a 20-3 run for a 35-23 lead with 3:36 left before halftime.
The Broncos clawed back some of the deficit thanks to a 7-0 run to go into the break down 37-31.
“They kind of came in and came across the ring and gave us some good blows. We kind of got up, dusted ourselves off and started fighting again,” Leon Rice said. “It was an impressive job by our guys to not get frustrated, because we missed some shots in the first half that got them running a little bit.
“The thing I said at halftime was, ‘Guys, we’re right there. We had some open looks that we didn’t make. Now we’ve just got to rebound a little bit better. We’ve gotta guard them a little bit better and keep our poise offensively.’ I thought our guys did a great job of that.”
In a game that featured 16 lead changes and five ties, the Broncos took control for good with a 13-2 run in the second half that culminated with Max Rice’s back-to-back triples for a 71-63 advantage.
“It’s super nice. It’s starting to feel really like a basketball town and a football town. It’s both,” Max Rice said. “I think our fans are really awesome right now. I had a guy come here from Spokane, one of my good friends, just the other day he was at the last game, and he was like, ‘I’ve never seen it that loud in there.’ And he’s been to a bunch of my games over the five years I’ve been here.
“I think that’s just a credit to all of our fans and also the students really showed out tonight. I think if we can get that crowd again Tuesday, it’s gonna be a heck of a Mountain West game.”
The Broncos will host San Diego State at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Boise, but first they must get past San Jose State on Saturday. Tipoff is 5 p.m. Mountain time at Provident Credit Union Event Center in San Jose, California. The game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network, or listen on the radio on KBOI 670 AM.
BOISE ST. 82, NEW MEXICO 77
Allick 3-8 2-4 8, Udeze 8-12 2-3 18, House 4-14 5-5 14, Johnson 3-8 4-4 11, Mashburn 2-15 2-2 7, Jenkins 4-10 0-0 12, Dent 2-2 2-3 7, Seck 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-69 17-21 77.
Degenhart 4-14 5-5 13, N.Smith 2-4 3-6 7, Agbo 2-5 6-7 12, M.Rice 9-20 7-8 30, Shaver 4-12 1-7 9, Milner 3-5 0-0 6, Whiting 2-4 1-1 5, Kuzmanovic 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-65 23-34 82.
Halftime—New Mexico 37-31. 3-Point Goals—New Mexico 8-25 (Jenkins 4-8, Dent 1-1, Mashburn 1-3, Johnson 1-5, House 1-6, Allick 0-2), Boise St. 7-27 (M.Rice 5-10, Agbo 2-3, Kuzmanovic 0-1, N.Smith 0-1, Shaver 0-2, Whiting 0-2, Degenhart 0-8). Rebounds—New Mexico 41 (Udeze 14), Boise St. 39 (Degenhart, Agbo, M.Rice 7). Assists—New Mexico 11 (House 6), Boise St. 8 (N.Smith, M.Rice 2). Total Fouls—New Mexico 24, Boise St. 17. A—9,825 (12,480).
This story was originally published February 23, 2023 at 12:42 AM.
