Streak broken: Boise State hoops holds off Colorado State to snap losing skid
For a short while on Friday night, it looked like the Boise State basketball team was going to let another game slip.
The Broncos led Colorado State for the first 30 minutes of Friday’s game at ExtraMile Arena, but a 13-2 run from the Rams midway through the second half suddenly gave the visitors a 55-54 lead.
Most of the announced attendance of 9,800 quickly had the energy sucked out of them, and things got even quieter when junior forward Andrew Meadow missed a 3-point shot.
However, a massive rebound and kick-out from sixth-year forward Dom Parolin led to a second-chance 3-point attempt from senior guard Dylan Andrews, who hit nothing but net while breaking out of a shooting slump on the night.
The Broncos (10-8, 2-5 Mountain West) held the lead from there, winning 79-73 to snap a four-game losing streak.
“To me, it’s just another basketball play at the end of the day,” said Andrews, who finished with a game-high 21 points.
“Our fans being here, showing the support, especially after us losing those four games in a row, just shows how much they really love Boise basketball, and we really appreciate that,” Andrews continued. “That did get me riled up a little bit, for sure, and I feel like that played a part in how we won this game.”
One of the key issues for the Broncos during their four-game losing streak was starting slowly. Boise State trailed by at least seven points in the first half of all four games they lost, including allowing Grand Canyon and Utah State to start the game on 8-0 and 10-0 runs, respectively.
But the Broncos flipped the script on Friday night, running out to a 7-0 lead within the first three minutes. Colorado State (11-7, 2-5) kept things close for most of the half, primarily through the one thing that Boise State head coach Leon Rice had warned his team about earlier this week: 3-point shooting.
The Rams ended the night shooting 14-for-25 (56%) from beyond the arc, including a 6-for-9 clip in the first half. But that was really all the Rams were capable of doing, as the Broncos locked down the interior, allowing just 18 paint points, six offensive rebounds and two second-chance points.
The Rams ultimately shot 23-for-47 (48.9%) from the field, meaning just nine of their buckets didn’t come from three.
“That usually means we’re playing with great energy and great toughness, and so that was a huge, huge stat tonight,” Rice said about the defensive performance. “And they can just spread out, they’re hard to keep off the boards.”
Three Broncos ended the night with at least five rebounds, led by a game-high eight from Drew Fielder.
But it wasn’t just on the defensive end that Boise State put in a team effort. Four Broncos ended the night in double-digit scoring: Andrews (21), Meadow (15), Fielder (11) and senior forward Javan Buchanan (10).
“I think the biggest thing is we really are starting to understand what our purpose is,” Rice said. “And that sounds crazy ... but we’re starting to understand each other and where guys play best, and how they play out things best.”
Andrews arrived as a transfer from UCLA and was expected to lead the Broncos’ offense this season. He’s shown glimpses of that ability, but more often than not, has instead been a source of frustration. During an eight-game stretch from Nov. 26 to Jan. 7, Andrews scored in double-digits just twice and was averaging 7.8 points per game while shooting under 30%.
However, in his past three games, he’s scored 16 points against Utah State, 14 against UNLV and the 21 on Friday night, which came on 5-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-7 from 3-point territory.
“I would say just trusting my work, the work I put in, the days I’m in the gym, the days that I’m tired and still want to come in,” Andrews said about what’s changed. “So I know for a fact those are shots that I make in the game. Those are shots that I make in practice. And tonight was the night they fell.”
As a team Boise State was 12-for-30 (40%) from three, a big improvement over their season numbers. The Broncos shot 23-for-49 (46.9%) from the field.
“We put so much time into (shooting), and we have great shooters, and we know that,” Fielder said. “We know that the ball is going to go in, and we’re more shocked when it doesn’t than when it does.”
Boise State will try to keep its momentum when it travels to Wyoming (11-6, 2-4) on Tuesday night to face another team that’s struggling in conference play.
This story was originally published January 17, 2026 at 12:41 AM.
