‘Two great wins,’ one W away: Boise State beats New Mexico to play for conference title
Boise State basketball’s Tyson Degenhart may have made history on Friday night, but there were other heroes in the team’s biggest win of the season so far.
For one, there was sophomore forward Emmanuel Ugbo, who came off the bench to star in the Broncos’ 72-69 Mountain West Tournament semifinal win over No. 1 seed New Mexico.
Ugbo had career highs in points (17) and minutes (25) while simultaneously dealing with New Mexico forward Nelly Junior Joseph, an All-Mountain West first team selection.
“He did it on both ends, and he did it when we needed him most,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice said of Ugbo.
Degenhart scored a team-high 22 points. His 17th and 18th points, on a layup with 10 minutes remaining, gave the senior forward sole possession of the program’s all-time scoring record. He overtook Tanoka Beard’s 32-year-old record of 1,944 points and sits at 1,949 after Friday night.
The victory brought Boise State (24-9) one step closer to an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which will go to the conference champion. Even if the Broncos lose Saturday, the NCAA Tournament could have a difficult time excluding them following their wins against San Diego State and the Lobos the past two days.
‘We’ve had some great wins, we’re in our stride at the right time,” Degenhart said. “We’ve had two great wins this tournament, and we’re looking forward to getting one tomorrow as well.”
Like Thursday night against San Diego State, the Broncos again did not shoot the ball well, going 23-for-52 (44%) from the floor and hitting just 7-of-27 3-point shots.
Degenhart was 8-for-14 on field goals and 4-for-6 from the foul line. His two misses came in the final 15 seconds, though, and gave New Mexico a shot at a tie and overtime, but Donovan Dent’s 3-pointer was way long as time expired.
Boise State limited the Lobos to 40% shooting (25-for-63) and won despite having 12 turnovers to New Mexico’s six.
For all the impact Ugbo had on the game, he started on the bench for the third straight game, with senior forward O’Mar Stanley in the starting lineup. But after Stanley picked up two fouls within the opening three minutes, Ugbo was quickly deployed.
He had just four points as the Broncos headed into halftime trailing 34-28. But it was the second half when he came alive. He scored five of Boise State’s first eight points, including the first of his two 3-pointers.
He had a stretch later in the half of scoring eight unanswered points to bring the Broncos from behind to 57-53 up.
“I want to thank my teammates and my coaches for trusting me,” Ugbo said. “They always told me to stay ready. They’ve seen what I can do in practices and games before, and today, I just let it rip.”
It’s also not often that an opposing player scores double-digit points, and you can say his defender played well, but that was the case between Ugbo and Junior Joseph.
The New Mexico senior scored 19 points, but it could’ve been much more if not for Ugbo’s work under the basket. Ugbo had a huge block on Junior Joseph late in the game to spark a loud Boise State cheer in the New Mexico-dominated stands. Ugbo ended the game with five rebounds.
Alongside Ugbo, sophomore forward Andrew Meadow stamped the game for the Broncos. They were trailing 66-65 with a minute remaining, and scrambling to get up a shot to beat the shot clock. Meadow sank a 3-point dagger to make it 68-66. He was 1-for-8 from 3-point range before making the shot.
“That’s what we were talking about in the huddles,” Rice said. “‘It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t change who you are, Andrew, you’re going to make the next one.’”
Meadow put the icing on the cake with a runout on an inbounds play from the Broncos’ own end line. After Degenhart grabbed a rebound, he called timeout. Junior forward RJ Keene then made a pass that would make Broncos quarterback Maddux Madsen proud, finding a running Meadow in stride for an open dunk and 70-66 lead with 24 seconds left.
The Boise State football team enjoyed a historic season that ended in the College Football Playoff. One more win, and the basketball team will be making its fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, earning a shot at its elusive first win in the Big Dance after 10 losses.
Saturday’s Mountain West title game will tip at 4 p.m. Mountain time and air on CBS, with the Broncos facing the Colorado State-Utah State winner. They split their games with the Aggies this season but were swept by the Rams, including losing last week’s regular-season finale at ExtraMile Arena.
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 10:11 PM.
