Broncos Roll to 80-54 Win Over South Carolina

Anthony Drmic scored from nearly every place on the court, as the junior guard poured in 30 points and had six rebounds to lead Boise State to a lopsided 80-54 win over South Carolina tonight in Honolulu. The Broncos will meet #14 Iowa State in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic on Christmas night.

The Broncos looked smooth and confident from the get-go, exploding to a 13-4 lead six minutes into the contest against the Gamecocks. Drmic scored nine of his team's 13 to set the tone early. Boise State undoubtedly played one of their best games of the season, throwing a stifling defense on inexperienced South Carolina.

Meanwhile, Coach Leon Rice's team utilized unselfish play and crisp passing, often finding open Broncos for easy buckets underneath. Boise State led at the break, 43-28, with Drmic piling up 20 points.

Boise State continued to build their lead in the second half, opening up a thirty-point lead with 8:53 remaining on a three-ball from Jeff Elorriaga. Coach Rice emptied his bench in the final minutes.

Drmic hit 10-of-17 shots from the field; his repertoire featured three-pointers, pull-up jumpers, floaters in the lane, and difficult driving layups that often resulted in fouls. Drmic connected on 8-of-11 from the free-throw line. Elorriage's three treys resulted in nine points, while big man Ryan Watkins contributed eight points, three rebounds and three assists.  Igor Hadziomerovic had four assists for Boise State.

Brenton Williams came off the bench to hit 14 points for South Carolina, while Duane Notice added 13.

Boise State forced 18 Gamecock turnovers while committing just nine themselves. Boise State advanced to 10-2 with the win, while South Carolina dropped to 3-5.

Boise State Selected as Favorite in Initial Mountain Rim Conference Season

The Boise State gymnastics team is moving on from its days in the Western Athletic Conference, but some things remain the same--the Broncos are the preseason favorite in the new Mountain Rim Gymnasts Conference.

Boise State received three first-place votes and 15 points to top the poll of the five league coaches, while the University of Denver finished second with the remaining two first-place votes.  Southern Utah was third, followed by Brigham Young and Utah State.

Boise State returns 2013 WAC Freshman of the Year Maddie Krentz, as well as All-WAC performer Kelsey Black, from its WAC Championship squad of last season.

The 2014 Mountain Rim conference season will begin January 11, with the championship scheduled for March 22 in Provo, Utah.

The Top 100 Female Artists of the Rock Era:

In case you haven't checked it out, or have fallen behind with the Christmas rush, here is a link to Inside The Rock Era's first 25 artists:

http://top5000-rocketman5000.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-top-100-female-artists-of-rock-era_16.html

The Top 150 Christmas Songs of All-Time:

Here is a guide to all the Christmas songs that our sister blog, Inside The Rock Era, has featured since December 1 in our annual Christmas special:

http://top5000-rocketman5000.blogspot.com/2011/12/top-150-christmas-songs-of-all-time_16.html

Welcome Back to Boise, Bryan Harsin!

http://bluefootballthroughandthrough.blogspot.com/2013/12/bryan-harsin-is-next-boise-state-head.html

Bronco Hoops Ready to Go in Lexington

It took much longer than expected, but Boise State got to Lexington late last night, and did a shootaround this morning in Rupp Arena.  Someone asked me what percentage Boise State had of winning tonight?  I said about the same percentage as Boise State's field goal percentage tonight.

Boise State #29 in AP Basketball Poll

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/rankings/ap

Boise State #30 in Coaches Poll

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/rankings/coaches

Statement from Boise State

http://news.boisestate.edu/update/2013/12/06/boise-state-thanks-coach-pete-looks-ahead/

Coach Chris Petersen Leaving for Washington

Coach Chris Petersen is leaving Boise State after leading the Broncos to their worst season since at least 2001.  His last few years weren't happy ones--the NCAA violations, the suspensions, kicking players off the team.  Pete was 92-12 since taking over in 2006, with a quarter of those losses happening this year.

Boise State has already received dozens of applications for the vacant head coaching job.  I expect an announcement fairly soon.

Broncos Pull Out 69-67 Win Over Utah

In the game of basketball, sometimes you need some intangibles to win.

Tonight, Boise State got those, in the form of a noisy crowd down the stretch, stepped-up defense, and playing though a 10-minute stretch in which their leading scorer was on the bench with foul trouble, to stop Utah 69-67 in Taco Bell Arena.

That the Broncos won with an uncharacteristic frigid night from behind the free-point line (4-14) is to their credit.  It certainly wasn't pretty, but Coach Leon Rice's team advances to 7-0 with the win over the previously unbeaten Utes.  That's the best start in school history.  Getting it this early is one thing; keeping it is quite another.  

This year's Broncos will have to go 9-1 over the next 10 games to match the 16-1 start by the 1987-1988 team.

The game was back and forth the entire way, with 14 lead changes.  Utah grabbed their biggest lead of the night, 46-42 on a Kenneth Ogbe three-pointer with 12:16 remaining.  They continued to hold that lead at 50-46 until an Anthony Drmic three-ball two minutes later.  

Boise State regained the lead at the 7:52 mark when a jumper by Drmic found nothing but net to put the Broncos up 56-55.  It was a lead that the Broncos wouldn't relinquish until Jordan Loveridge's three-pointer with just 1:52 left to put the Utes ahead 66-65.

Derrick Marks hit a clutch jumper in the key with 52 ticks remaining to give Boise State a 67-66 lead.  A defensive stop put Marks on the line.  He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Jeff Elorriaga made the defensive play of the game with a steal with 18 seconds remaining.

Marks was back at the free-throw line, and this time, he hit both shots to extend the lead to 69-66.  Utah's Delon Wright made one of two free throws for the final points for either team.

Marks led the way with 17 points, while Drmic scored 14 hard-earned points and Mikey Thompson came off the bench for 13.  Ryan Watkins stepped up his game in the second half to finish with eight points and 10 rebounds, including several key offensive boards.  

Loveridge led Utah with 19 points while Wright had 15.  Utah falls to 6-1 with the loss.

Boise State entertains Carroll College Thursday night in Taco Bell Arena.

Boise State Basketball Team Drops to #32

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/rankings/coaches

Boise State Drops to #32 in AP Poll

San Diego State is #24:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/rankings/ap

Broncos Turn Back Portland State 76-60

Boise State wore down Portland State tonight 76-60 in Taco Bell Arena.

The game was the Broncos' third in seven days and just two days after the exhausting game against Idaho and it showed.  Boise State was not its usual sharp selves, allowing the Vikings to hang around for the entire first half.  Coach Leon Rice's team went into the locker room only up 34-30.

No doubt Rice laid it out to his team at halftime, as the Bronco defense ceased to allow the easy buckets they were giving up in the first half.  One minute into the second stanza, Derrick Marks' driving layup made it 36-30, then a steal by Marks and beautiful assist to Ryan Watkins opened up an eight-point lead.  Watkins added a free throw to make it 39-30.

Both teams turned ice cold as seven minutes later, Boise State held a 43-35 lead.  Igor Hadziomerivic drilled a three-pointer to give Boise State its biggest lead at 46-35, then Anthony Drmic came up with another steal, resulting  in a Marks layup and free throw.  The Broncos were up 49-35, and coasted the rest of the way to their sixth victory in as many games.

Watkins was superb for Boise State, hustling all over the court.  The big guy netted 14 points and 13 rebounds, and his help down low stopped several Vikings in their tracks.  Marks added 14 points, while Mikey Thompson scored 13 and had four assists, Hadziomerivic contributed 12 points and 7 rebounds, and Drmic had 9 points, 8 boards and 3 assists for the Broncos.

  DaShaun Wiggins had 19 points for Portland State, aided by Tim Douglas with 12 and Aaron Moore with 12.

Next up for the Broncos is Utah Tuesday night.  The Utes are unbeaten themselves, making for an early season game of two of the nation's 25 undefeated teams remaining.  

Tipoff is 8:05 Tuesday night in Taco Bell Arena.

The 2013 Boise State Seniors: A Record-Breaking Run for A Class Act

http://bluefootballthroughandthrough.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-2013-boise-state-seniors-record.html

Marks Sets School Record with 21 Free Throws

Idaho helped Derrick set the mark, fouling the Mountain West's best free-throw shooter repeatedly down the stretch.  Marks calmly hit 21-23 free throws, breaking the school record of 20 set by Tanoka Beard against George Mason in 1992.

Oh, and Idaho quit fouling when Boise State had 98 points.  Hmmmm.

Drmic Moves from 21st to 18th on All-Time Scoring List at Boise State

Anthony Drmic's 21 points tonight gave him 1,033 in his Boise State basketball career.

He is now 18th all-time in career scoring, passing Eric Lane (1,075 points), Greg Bunn (1,032) and LeShard Anderson (1,022).

Boise State Wrestlers Stun #6 Oregon State

Boise State sent shock waves through the wrestling world with a 19-18 upset of #6 Oregon State in Corvallis.

Coach Greg Randall's team fell behind 15-3, but won four of the last five matches to knock off the defending Pac-12 champions in the first league match for both teams.

The shock started with sophomore Chris Castillo's win at 149 pounds, beating the #3 wrestler in America, Scott Sakaguchi, 3-2.  Oregon State won the next to matches to grab their big lead, but freshman Austin Dewey recorded a 6-5 victory over Oregon State's Joe Latham at 174 pounds.  Senior Jake Swartz, the nation's #5 wrestler at 184 pounds, put away John Tuck 20-7.  Taylor Meeks, the top-ranked wrestler at 197 pounds, got more than he wanted from Boise State senior Cody Dixon, escaping with a 1-0 win to push the Beaver lead to 18-10.

Bronco senior heavyweight J.T. Felix pinned Amarveer Dhesi in 31 seconds, to hand the deciding match to Sophomore Rami Haddadin.  Haddadin came through with a 10-9 victory to give the Broncos the amazing win.

MATCH RESULTS
133: Van Anrooy major decision Ty Stevenson, 10-0 (OSU 4, BSU 0)
141: Joey Delgado major decision Travis Himmelman, 10-2 (OSU 8, BSU 0)
149: Chris Castillo decision Scott Sakaguchi, 3-2 (OSU 8, BSU 3)
157: RJ Pena decision Holden Packard, 6-2 (OSU 11, BSU 3)
165: Alex Elder major decision Taylor West, 11-2 (OSU 15, BSU 3)
174: Austin Dewey decision Joe Latham, 6-5 (OSU 15, BSU 6)
184: Jacob Swartz major decision John Tuck, 20-7 (OSU 15, BSU 10)
197: Taylor Meeks decision Cody Dixon, 1-0 (OSU 18, BSU 10)
HWT: J.T. Felix pin Amarveer Dhesi, 0:31 (OSU 18, BSU 16)
125: Rami Haddadin decision Pat Rollins, 10-9 (OSU 18, BSU 19)

Boise State #31 in AP

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/rankings/ap

Boise State #31 in Coaches Poll

Still not a whole lot of respect for the Broncos.  They put a 4-1 team ahead of 4-0 Boise State.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/rankings/coaches