Boise State men’s basketball cruises to fourth straight victory with win at Wyoming

The Boise State men’s basketball team has first place within its grasp.

Five Broncos scored in double figures in an 85-68 win over Wyoming on Saturday at Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, Wyoming. The victory was Boise State’s fourth in a row and moves the Broncos within a half-game of first place in the Mountain West standings.

Saturday’s win also sets up a first-place showdown against Nevada on Tuesday at ExtraMile Arena. The Wolf Pack (15-4, 5-1 MW) currently own a half-game lead over the Broncos (14-4, 4-1) and won the two teams’ first meeting this season 74-72 on Dec. 28 in Reno.

“It’s definitely personal, especially when you’re coming off a loss,” Boise State’s Naje Smith said of the upcoming game against Nevada. “You’re hungry and you want to show your home crowd that you’re the team. It’s gonna be exciting.”

Smith was one of five Broncos to score in double figures — for the third straight game — against the Cowboys (5-12, 0-5), notching 18 points and seven rebounds, highlighted by a career-best 4-for-8 performance from 3-point range.

Junior Chibuzo Agbo matched Smith with 18 points as well, dropping 16 of those in the second half with the help of four 3-pointers. Agbo nearly made it a double-double with nine rebounds and also added one assist and one steal. The Broncos finished 12-for-33 from deep with eight of those triples coming in the second half.

“They’re just having a better understanding of where they belong and where we can get the shots and how we get each other shots,” Boise State coach Leon Rice told KBOI 670 AM in a postgame radio interview.

Fifth-year senior Marcus Shaver Jr. found his teammates with efficiency Saturday, dishing out a career-high tying nine assists to go with eight rebounds and 10 points. Max Rice added 17 points and five rebounds, and Tyson Degenhart rounded out the Broncos in double figures with 13 points.

Boise State held a 42-33 advantage on the boards, including nine offensive rebounds that led to 11 second-chance points. The Broncos are 12-3 this season when outrebounding their opponent.

The Broncos led 41-33 at halftime but came out of the locker room and made three consecutive 3-pointers to extend their lead to 15, 50-35. That advantage only grew to as many as 24 points, 85-61, with 2:14 to play, allowing Leon Rice to empty his bench.

Saturday’s win was the second straight on the road for the Broncos, who are currently in a stretch where three of four games are outside ExtraMile Arena.

“I’m really impressed with my guys and how tough there were with this road sweep,” Leon Rice said. “I mean, wow. That’s hard to go to UNLV on Wednesday and come here on Saturday at 9 o’clock. That’s a long day for them and sitting around. You worry about them being ready to go, and we’re banged up like everybody else is this time of year. So you’ve gotta dig deep to reach down and have the toughness to play in this game and play well and we had a lot of guys do that.”

The Broncos resume Mountain West play against Nevada on Tuesday. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at ExtraMile Arena, and the game will be streamed live on Nevada Sports Net, or listen on the radio on KBOI 670 AM.

Women’s basketball: Broncos fall on road

The Boise State women’s basketball team got in a hole early and never recovered in a 55-42 loss to San Diego on Saturday at Viejas Arena in San Diego, California.

The Aztecs (14-4, 4-1 MW) came out firing, shooting 57.1% in the opening quarter to race out to a 22-9 first-quarter lead. The Broncos (7-10, 2-2) buckled down defensively in the second quarter, holding San Diego State to just one field goal, but only managed six points themselves.

Junior guard Anna Ostlie paced the Broncos with seven points and three assists, and Mary Kay Naro added five points and seven rebounds.

The Broncos are back in action at UNLV on Monday. The game tips off at 9 p.m. Mountain time and will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

BOISE ST. 85, WYOMING 68

Degenhart 5-9 2-2 13, N.Smith 7-15 0-0 18, Agbo 7-13 0-1 18, M.Rice 7-10 1-1 17, Shaver 3-9 3-5 10, Milner 3-3 0-0 6, Whiting 0-2 1-2 1, Kuzmanovic 1-2 0-0 2, Young 0-1 0-0 0, NgaNga 0-1 0-0 0, B.Smith 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 33-68 7-11 85.

Oden 4-7 3-4 11, Anderson 4-8 3-6 11, Maldonado 5-10 1-4 12, Reynolds 5-18 2-5 13, Agbonkpolo 0-2 2-2 2, Dusell 4-7 0-0 11, Barnhart 2-2 0-0 6, Powell 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 25-57 11-21 68.

Halftime—Boise St. 41-33. 3-Point Goals—Boise St. 12-33 (Agbo 4-8, N.Smith 4-8, M.Rice 2-4, Degenhart 1-4, Shaver 1-5, NgaNga 0-1, B.Smith 0-1, Whiting 0-1, Young 0-1), Wyoming 7-19 (Dusell 3-5, Barnhart 2-2, Maldonado 1-2, Reynolds 1-7, Agbonkpolo 0-1, Anderson 0-1, Oden 0-1). Rebounds—Boise St. 40 (Agbo 9), Wyoming 30 (Anderson 6). Assists—Boise St. 15 (Shaver 9), Wyoming 12 (Maldonado 4). Total Fouls—Boise St. 21, Wyoming 12. A—4,178 (15,028).