LARAMIE, Wyo. - It was a one-possession game with less than a minute and a half remaining, but Wyoming made its free throws down the stretch to hand Boise State its first loss in more than two months, 72-65, Thursday at the Arena-Auditorium.
The loss snapped a program-record 14-game winning streak for the Broncos, and was the team’s first loss in Mountain West play.
Boise State (17-5, 8-1 MW) used a 6-0 run to take a 55-54 lead with 4:46 on the clock before the Cowboys (18-3, 7-1 MW) rattled off an 8-2 run of their own to build a 62-57 lead with just over three minutes remaining. Marcus Shaver Jr. made a free throw to bring the Broncos within two, but Wyoming got back-to-back field goals from Graham Ike, and the Cowboys made 6-of-8 attempts from the stripe to close out the game.
Ike finished with a game-high 33 points and 10 rebounds.
Abu Kigab kept Boise State in the game down the stretch, scoring nine of the Broncos’ final 14 points. Kigab finished the game with a team-high 26 points, going 8-of-15 from the field and 9-of-11 effort from the free throw line.
The first half was an electric affair that saw six lead changes and three ties. Wyoming jumped out to a 15-7 lead that forced Boise State head coach Leon Rice to call a timeout with 13:18 on the clock. The Broncos answered the call over the next 5:38 as Tyson Degenhart scored five points to lead a 12-4 run, tying the game at 19 apiece. The teams traded buckets through the remainder of the half, including a steal-and-score by Marcus Shaver, Jr. that evened things at 28 apiece heading into the break.
Degenhart finished the game with 13 points and five rebounds, while Shaver added nine.
The Broncos got a huge boost from their bench production as Max Rice and Lukas Milner combined to outscore the Pokes’ bench, 12-2. Rice finished the game with eight points, including two three pointers. He has now hit a triple in four-straight games and is 7-for-17 on 3-point attempts his last three games (.412) after going 1-for-24 to start the season.
Prior to tonight’s loss, the Broncos’ eight-straight wins to open conference play was the second-longest streak in school history. The five-straight conference road wins were the most by a Boise State team under Leon Rice.
Up next Boise State will return to ExtraMile Arena to host San Jose State Saturday, Feb. 5. The game is set to tipoff at 4 p.m. MT and can be streamed on Stadium and the Mountain West Network.
