3/6/2022 basketball Edit

Broncos drop regular-season finale on the road

Matt Brumley

broncosports.com

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Boise State had three players score in double figures and shot better than 50-percent from the floor for the fifth time in its last six games, but were edged 71-68 by Colorado State on the road at a sold-out Moby Arena, Saturday night.

File Photo: The Boise State men’s basketball team dropped its regular-season finale at Colorado State, 71-68, at a sold out Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo…the Broncos, whom had already locked up the Mountain West regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed at next week’s conference tournament, dropped to 24-7 on the season and 15-3 in conference play…Colorado State improved to 24-4 on the year and 14-4 in the MW. (Stanley Brewster / Blue-Turf.com)

A layup from Mladen Armus gave the Broncos a 66-65 lead with 2:38 left in the game, the first lead for Boise State (24-7, 15-3 MW) since the first half. After a bucket on the other end by Colorado State (24-4, 14-4 MW), Abu Kigab got the lead back for the Broncos with 1:28 remaining, but the Rams closed out the game with four-straight second-chance points to secure the victory.

Boise State led 7-2 early in the first half before Colorado State scored the next 12 points to take a 14-7 advantage. An and-1 layup from Armus ended the run for the Rams and sparked a 13-3 stretch for the Broncos that included back-to-back 3-pointers from Max Rice. Rice was 3-of-4 from deep in the first half, and finished the game with 11 points. Armus tallied nine points, four rebounds and two blocks.

After the teams traded buckets the score sat tied at 27 with just over six minutes remaining in the half, but the Rams closed out the period outscoring the Broncos 14-9 to head into the break on top, 41-36. Boise State and Colorado State combined for 20 assists in the first half, with nine and 11, respectively.

File Photo: Abu Kigab scored a team-high 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting (.636), his 21st game in double figures this season…he also pulled down a team-high six rebounds and led the Broncos with five assists…he had five assists in both games against the Rams this season, and has at least five assists in five games this year. (Stanley Brewster / Blue-Turf.com)

Colorado State opened the second half on 5-0 run to hand Boise State its largest deficit of the night (11). The Broncos outscored the rams 14-5 over the next six minutes, including back-to-back triples from Pavle Kuzmanovic, to cut the lead 52-55 with just under 12 to play. Minutes later a two-point jumper from Marcus Shaver, Jr. capped a six-point run to level the score for the first time since 4:34 in the first half.

Shaver finished the night with 13 points and was joined by Abu Kigab (15) and Rice (11) in double figures. Shaver extended his double-digit scoring streak to nine games and leads the team with 25 such games.

The loss dropped Boise State, which had already locked up the Mountain West regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed at next week’s conference tournament, to 24-7 on the season and 15-3 in conference play. The Broncos’ three conference losses tied the school record for fewest in a single season (1987-88 and 1988-89), and the conference winning percentage of .833 established the school record.

File photo: Marcus Shaver, Jr. scored 13 points, his team-leading 25th game in double figures this season. (Stanley Brewster / Blue-Turf.com)

With the 2021-22 regular season now complete, the Broncos will travel to Las Vegas for next week’s 2022 Air Force Reserve Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship. Boise State will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 8 Nevada and No. 9 New Mexico (11 a.m. PT/Noon MT; MW Network). The Broncos and either the Wolf Pack or Lobos will square off Thursday (March 10) at Noon PT/1 p.m. MT, and the game will be nationally televised by CBS Sports Network.

Despite the loss, the Broncos will enter the conference tournament having won 21 of their last 24 games.