Boise State hoops returns to action with a season-defining win at Butler
Boise State basketball kicked off its final stretch of nonconference games with its first marquee win of the season on Saturday afternoon.
The Broncos (6-3) traveled to historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and defeated the Butler Bulldogs (7-2) 77-68, thanks to a stout defensive performance and a group effort on offense that featured four Broncos with double-digit scoring.
Butler entered Saturday afternoon’s game ranked 22nd in the NCAA’s NET rankings, meaning the victory is Boise State’s first Quad 1 victory of the season. Quadrant wins help categorize a team’s resume come selection time for the NCAA Tournament, with a Quad 1 victory being the highest weighted and Quad 4 the lowest.
“To win on the road, you’ve got to be able to guard, you’ve got to be able to rebound, and it’s almost like winning the line of scrimmage,” Boise State head coach Leon Rice told KBOI after the game. “We certainly did that.”
Senior guard Dylan Andrews led the Broncos with 20 points, while junior forward Drew Fielder was just behind with 16 points. Junior forward Andrew Meadow and senior forward Javan Buchanan each had 10 points, while sixth-year forward Dom Parolin had eight points and 10 rebounds.
The game wasn’t pretty on the eye by any stretch of the imagination, with most of the first half consisting of one-on-one matchups and back-and-forth basketball.
Each team went on a pair of big runs in the opening 20 minutes, including a 9-0 run from the Broncos that saw them hit three-straight 3-pointers from three different players. But the Bulldogs struck back with a 7-0 run of their own to tie the game at 22-22 after 15 minutes.
The Broncos held a lead for the rest of the first half, but the final few seconds of the half summed up how the first 20 minutes had gone: After fumbling a catch, Butler guard Finley Bizjack tossed a half-court shot net-bound with 5 seconds left on the clock. With the Broncos looking almost surprised at the shot attempt, Bulldogs guard Yame Butler was the fastest to respond and quickly put the ball back up for a rebound bucket.
Boise State took a 33-31 lead into halftime. But coming out for the second half, rather than more of the same, something flipped for the Broncos.
Despite falling behind by as many as seven points at one point, Boise State quickly rallied and took a 47-46 lead five minutes into the second half and didn’t trail for the rest of the game. Butler began hurrying Boise State and pushing up the tempo, which allowed the Broncos to score off several backdoor cuts and slip screens for big dunks and layups at the rim.
“We actually knew what their reaction to a close game would be,” Rice said. “They just start heating you up. And you’ve got to be tough enough, two hands, two feet with the ball, and you’ve got to get stuff going to the rim.”
Each team scored 42 points in the paint, but the difference came from the Broncos’ aggressiveness on the boards.
Butler went into the game with an average rebounding margin of plus-13, which ranked fifth in the nation. However, the Broncos won the rebound battle 45 to 31. Redshirt senior guard RJ Keene had eight rebounds, while Parolin’s 10 rebounds capped his best game as a Bronco to date.
The Broncos put the game to bed in the final seven minutes by limiting Butler to zero points during a stretch of 6 minutes and 36 seconds — a 3-pointer from Butler’s leading scorer, Michael Ajayi, would be the last points Butler scored until a pair of free throws from Ajayi with 13 seconds left.
Between Ajayi’s 3-pointer and free throws, the Broncos extended their lead from 62-61 to 71-61. A handful of free throws from Andrews and freshman guard Aginaldo Neto completed the scoring for the Broncos.
“Our coaches did a great job with the scout, and our team did a really good job figuring out how to hold them to no points,” Fielder said. “To where we can just take advantage of what we think their strengths are and what we think their weaknesses are.”
This story was originally published December 6, 2025 at 4:10 PM.
