BOISE – Marcus Shaver Jr. probably single-handedly won the Boise State men’s basketball team a Mountain West regular season title a year ago when he hit four different game-tying or go-ahead 3-pointers in the final minutes of wins last season.
In his opening stanza of the encore Wednesday night in the season opener against South Dakota State, he reminded us that he’s human.
The senior guard had 17 points but missed two free throws with the score tied and 23.1 seconds left, opening the door for a Jackrabbits bucket with 1.3 seconds left in a heartbreaking 68-66 loss.
“I’d want Shaver shooting those free throws 100 out of 100 times,” Rice said. “He’s one of the most clutch players I’ve ever coached.”
The score was tied at 66 when Shaver drove to the rim and got fouled. He bricked the first free throw, and after a time out again missed the second one. Shaver, who went 5-8 from the line overall, shot better than 75 percent from the foul line a year ago.
South Dakota State grabbed the round and held the ball for a final shot. Alex Arians drove with six seconds left and found Matt Dentlinger with a nice pass under the basket. Dentlinger laid it in with 1.3 seconds left to put the Jackrabbits in front.
Rice had a chance for a final shot from inside half court, but his calves tightened up as he caught the ball and he was forced to heave an awkward shot that went wide of the hoop as time expired.
“Tough one tonight, “said Max Rice, who had a team-high 21 points. “It just didn’t go the way we wanted at the end but we’ll recover and come back from it better on Saturday.”
Asked about falling to the ground in pain after the final shot attempt, Rice said, “my calves started giving out. It’s nothing too serious. I wish I could have shot it but when I rotated, both my calves tightened up and I just had to chuck it.”
As for Shaver missing both free throws, Max Rice said, “he’s the clutchest person I know.”
Naje Smith and Tyson Degenhart each had 12 points for the Broncos, who made just 4 of 19 shots from 3-point range.
Chibuzo Agbo, a transfer from Texas Tech, started but played just 10 minutes and fouled out in a frustrating Boise State debut.
“He had some silly fouls that limited his play tonight,” Leon Rice said. “And that impacts the whole thing because it’s the first game of the year and we have a bunch of guys that probably aren’t (ready) for 35-38 minutes, especially with how hard they played. Those guys left it all out there.”
Degenhart played 38 minutes while Rice and Shaver each played 36. Degenhart and Rice played the entire second half without a break.
“The fatigue showed up a little bit,” Rice said. “We got the lead and then had three turnovers in a row and they looked like fatigue turnovers.”
Boise State (0-1) will be back in action Saturday against Washington State at ICCU Arena in downtown Boise. Plenty of tickets still remain.
“There were a lot of things out there I was pleased with,” Rice said. “We’ve got great opportunities ahead of us, starting Saturday. The response has to be championship level.”
