Boise State completed a road sweep over Fresno State and Nevada for only the second time in school history with a 72-66 win in Reno last night. Once again, senior guard La’Shard Anderson led the way with 23 points.
Anderson poured in a career-high 33 points in Boise State’s win over Fresno State Thursday night and is a strong candidate for Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week. The only other time that Boise State was able to defeat both Fresno State and Nevada in the same road trip was in the 2007-08 season when the Broncos were WAC champions.
Boise State out-shot and out-rebounded the Wolf Pack last night in gaining their fifth consecutive victory and moving into sole possession of second place in the WAC. It did not start out that way, as both teams were ice-cold from the field in the first half. The Broncos were 10-26 (.385) in the first stanza while Nevada was just 9-24 (.375). Boise State missed its first eight shots but stayed in the game because Nevada didn’t do much better (1-6 to start the game). Coach Leon Rice’s team held the Wolf Pack scoreless in the final five minutes of the half to pull within one at 23-22.
Whatever Rice is saying in the locker room is working. Last night’s game marked the seventh time Boise State has come back from a halftime deficit to win.
Daequon Montreal scored all 16 of his points in the second half to lead the onslaught and Robert Arnold finished with 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Montreal scored the first five points in the second half as Boise State went on a 10-2 run to begin the second half. The Broncos stretched the lead to 49-37 but the homestanding Wolf Pack battled back to pull within four with 15 seconds left.
Jeff Elorriaga was fouled on the ensuing possession and canned both free throws to provide the final margin if victory.
Boise State went on a sharpshooting spree in the second half, hitting 15-524 (62.5%) to take control of the game. Anderson aided the cause with three steals to pass Chris Childs for fifth on the all-time single-season steals list. Anderson, who passed Usitalo Thursday night for second all-time in his career, now has 189. Only Childs (215) is ahead of Anderson. It should be noted, however, that Usitalo played only two years at Boise State while Anderson and Childs played all four years.
Olek Czyz led the Wolf Pack with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
Boise State is now 17-11 on the season and 9-6 in conference play, including a record of 9-7 on the road. Nevada slipped to 11-17 and 7-7.
Boise State closes out the regular season with games in Taco Bell Arena against Cal State Bakersfield (Wednesday) and San Jose State Saturday night.
New Mexico State can pass Boise State for second place if the Broncos lose to San Jose State. If Boise State defeats the Spartans, New Mexico State can finish in a tie with Boise State if the Aggies beat both Utah State Wednesday night and Nevada Saturday night. Both those games are in Las Cruces. The Aggies would then own the tie-breaker with Boise State with a win over regular season champion Utah State. The combination of a Boise State win and a New Mexico State loss would clinch second place for the Broncos.
No comments:
Post a Comment