Boise State beats Utah State 68-57
BOISE, Idaho - Marcus Shaver, Jr. dropped 20 points for the second-straight game as Boise State powered past Utah State, 68-57, in a Mountain West clash Saturday afternoon at ExtraMile Arena.
Shaver finished the night shooting 6-of-9 from the field and was perfect from the free-throw line on six attempts. He scored 14 in the second half, and was perfect from both the field and the free throw line in the final period.
Utah State (15-13, 6-9 MW) made a 3-pointer with just under three minutes to play, ultimately cutting the Boise State lead to 57-55. The Broncos (21-6, 12-2 MW) closed out the game on an 11-2 run, making 6-of-8 free throw attempts in the final three minutes and securing the victory.
Boise State went 19-of-28 at the free throw line, and is now 115-of-149 (.772) the last nine games. The Broncos have now won four-straight over the Aggies, and 11 of their last 15 match-ups.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair that featured 10 lead changes and five ties. Tyson Degenhart led all scorers with nine points in the opening period, including seven of Boise State’s first 14. Degenhart finished the night with 12 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
After Boise State jumped out to a 12-6 lead, the Aggies battled back to go up 18-16 with under eight to play in the half. The lead never reached more than three points for either side for the remainder of the period. Shaver made yet another buzzer-beating shot, this time a two-pointer that cut the Utah State lead 30-29 heading into the break.
The Aggies struck first to open the second half before the Broncos went on an 8-0 run over the next minute-and-a-half to take the lead. When Utah State came back to tie things up at 39, Abu Kigab took back the lead for Boise State by scoring the next six points of the game. Kigab finished the game with 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and added four rebounds.
Boise State shot 52.4 percent from the floor (22-of-42), its second-straight game shooting above 50 percent. The Broncos are 55-of-90 the last two games (.611), and are 10-0 this season when shooting better than 50 percent.
The Broncos held an opponent to fewer than 60 points for the 14th time this season, tied for the most in a single season during the Leon Rice era. Boise State also held 14 opponents to fewer than 60 points during the 2014-15 season en route to winning the Mountain West regular-season title.
Boise State is back home Tuesday, playing host to San Diego State. The game is set to tipoff at 7 p.m. MT and will be broadcast on CBSSN.
