After early stall, Boise State basketball remains in cruise control for win at Air Force
Boise State basketball seemed to have stalled before it even got going on Wednesday night at Air Force.
But once the Broncos got moving, they never left high gear en route to an easy 80-57 victory over the Air Force Falcons at Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Boise State (22-8, 14-5 Mountain West) entered the matchup against Air Force (4-26, 1-18), the conference’s last-place team, as 15-point favorites. So when the Falcons took an 8-2 lead, even though it was very early on, fans might have been having flashbacks of last weekend’s 66-61 win over Fresno State, another bottom-dwelling team the Broncos should have dominated.
But the trouble with the Falcons didn’t last. Sophomore guard Andrew Meadow scored 10 of Boise State’s first 14 points, and his free throws gave the Broncos a 14-11 lead that ballooned to 38-21 at halftime.
“For us to be able to come back against a tough Mountain West team on the road on their senior night, it says a lot about this team,” senior forward O’Mar Stanley told KBOI after the game. “We’re able to fight through adversity and get past anything that’s in front of us.”
Stanley scored 10 points, meaning he’s now scored in double digits in every game he’s played against the Falcons. He also had three rebounds and went 6-for-9 from the free-throw line.
“It’s his quickness and athleticism that they have trouble with,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice told KBOI.
Meadow and freshman guard Pearson Carmichael led the Broncos in scoring with 14 points apiece.
Boise State started the game just 1-for-6 from the field before getting hot. It took over 4 minutes for the Broncos to manage their second basket of the game, courtesy of a pass into the post from senior guard Alvaro Cardenas to Stanley.
The assist was Cardenas’ 200th of the season. The first-year Bronco, who transferred in after three years at San Jose State, claimed the program’s single-season assist record earlier this year. His six assists against Air Force brought his total to a conference-high 205.
“We knew the better team (Cardenas) was on, the better player he’d be,” Rice said. “And he’s just settling into it; I’ve got to find a way we can get him back somehow.”
Cardenas, along with Stanley and senior forward Tyson Degenhart, will graduate this spring.
Capitalizing off Cardenas’ landmark assist, Boise State forced Air Force into three turnovers in 90 seconds, converting those into points to put the Falcons in a spot they’re used to — trailing big. Air Force ended the game with 12 turnovers compared to Boise State’s 5.
The Broncos extended their lead to as many as 35 points with 5 minutes remaining before Rice substituted liberally.
The victory kept Boise State alive in the fight for a top-three seed in the Mountain West Tournament and on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament. The Broncos knew a loss to a bad Air Force team could dash any hopes for the latter.
Boise State has one regular season game remaining, a challenge against Colorado State (21-9, 15-4) on Friday at ExtraMile Arena for senior night. The Rams enter on a six-game winning streak and are in second place in the Mountain West, and they beat the Broncos 75-72 in January.
“We’re excited. We know the Rams are a good team, but for the most part, we’re focused on us,” Stanley said. “We’re focused on Boise State basketball, and we know what we can do.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2025 at 9:53 PM.
