After Naje Smith forced a turnover to get his team the ball, Boise State looked to none other than Marcus Shaver, Jr., to take its final shot in a tie game with 30 seconds left on the clock. An inbound play put the ball straight into Shaver’s hands out of a timeout, and the fifth-year guard dribbled the clock down before drilling a step-back three-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining to lift Boise State men’s basketball to a 67-64 victory over San Jose State, Tuesday night at a raucous ExtraMile Arena.
The Broncos (11-4, 1-1 MW) opened the game shooting 2-of-8 from the floor, but responded by making seven of their next eight to take a 21-14 lead over the Spartans (11-5, 2-1 MW) at the second media timeout. 10 points from Max Rice in the final 10 minutes of the opening half helped Boise State maintain a 41-29 advantage as the teams went to the locker rooms.
After the teams traded buckets through the first two media timeouts, San Jose State used two separate scoring runs to claw its way back into the game, making a three with 3:07 remaining to take its first lead since 15:47 remained in the first half. Tyson Degenhart made the front end of a one-and-one to tie the score at 64 apiece, setting up the game-winning sequence for Boise State.
Shaver has now made five game-tying or game-winning shots in the final 30 seconds of a game in his Boise State career.
Top Broncos
- Chibuzo Agbo led Boise State in scoring with 15 points, moving his double-digit-scoring streak to six games.
- Tyson Degenhart logged 13 points and six rebounds, his sixth game this season with at least 10 points and five rebounds.
- Max Rice notched 14 points including 12 in the first half.
- Naje Smith scored 11 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Quotables
- “We needed to slow things down, we were leaking oil,” said head coach Leon Rice. “It was getting dicey. We couldn’t stop them and we were struggling a little bit offensively and had some turnovers, but credit to him (Marcus Shaver, Jr.) and the toughness he has to come back out and hit that big shot.”
- “I was really calm,” said Marcus Shaver, Jr. “I’ve been in that situation a lot. It’s just like I’m at the park getting up shots.”
- “It was the perfect storm, I was looking at all the conditions,” said Naje Smith. “We had the ball with 20 seconds left, we had Shaver in the game, and we had a tie ballgame. That’s the most fun time to play because if you miss you are going to overtime but if you make it you’re the hero. We all know who the hero of this story is.”
Notables
- Boise State limited San Jose State to just 19.0% (4-21) from three-point range, only the second time this season the Broncos have held a team to shoot under 20% from three.
- The win improves Boise State to 21-0 at home in the all-time series against San Jose State.
- The Broncos scored four points in the final 48 seconds to pull out the three-point win.
Up Next
The homestand continues for Boise State as it plays host to Utah State, Saturday (Jan. 7). The Broncos and Aggies tip off at 4:30 p.m. MT on NewsTalk KBOI.
