Road warriors: Boise State overcomes slow start to get Mountain West win at Air Force
Boise State found itself in a low-scoring dogfight in the first half Tuesday at 11-point underdog Air Force.
By the end of the game, it was hard to believe things were ever close.
The Broncos pulled away with a 20-3 run in the second half and cruised to a 79-48 win at Cadet Field House in Colorado, securing their third straight 20-win season. They improved to a Mountain West-best 17-9 in conference road games since the beginning of the 2021-22 season and stayed tied atop the conference standings with Utah State.
The biggest first-half lead for Boise State (20-8, 11-4) was just six points, and the Falcons (9-18, 2-13) got hot from 3-point range. Rytis Petraitis knocked down two from behind the line, including one that cut the Broncos’ lead to 26-24 with 1:20 left in the half. Patraitis led the Falcons with 19 points on Tuesday.
Boise State was up just 28-26 at halftime.
“They had their mojo going,” Boise State coach Leon Rice told KBOI after the game, referring to Air Force coming off a 78-77 win at New Mexico. “We knew we were going to have to come out and play well.”
The Broncos got it together from 3-point range and on the glass after halftime.
Air Force battled Boise State to a 12-12 tie in rebounds in the first half, but the Broncos had a 19-8 advantage the rest of the way. After going 1-for-8 from 3-point range in the first half, they were 6-for-10 in the second half. Chibuzo Agbo went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc after halftime and finished the game with 17 points.
Tyson Degenhart led Boise State with 21 points and went 9-for-10 from the free throw line. It was the sixth time he scored more than 20 in the past nine games. O’Mar Stanley finished with 15 points.
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The Broncos needed to pad their postseason resume with an impressive win on Tuesday. Fortunately for them, they got it together in the second half.
The final three games of Boise State’s regular season schedule aren’t for the faint of heart. The Broncos host New Mexico (Saturday, 6 p.m.) and Nevada (March 5), and hit the road to face San Diego State (March 8) before heading to Las Vegas for the Mountain West Tournament on March 13-16. They already have wins over all three.
Boise State and Utah State have identical 11-4 conference records, although the Aggies own the head-to-head tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed after sweeping their season series. Utah State beat Fresno State 77-73 in overtime on Tuesday.
The Broncos are very much in the running for one of the top seeds in the league tourney and a third straight berth in the NCAA Tournament. Wins in any of the next three games will pad what is already a pretty strong resume.
The Mountain West Conference could get as many as six teams in the NCAA tourney, which is what several mock brackets have now, although Colorado State (20-9, 8-8) and New Mexico (21-7, 9-6) seem to be flirting with disaster. The Rams have lost three in a row and four of five, having fallen at home Tuesday night to Nevada. The Lobos have the weakest nonconference resume of the contenders, just suffered a Quad 4 loss at home to Air Force, and still have road games in Boise and at Utah State.
This story was originally published February 27, 2024 at 10:28 PM.
