LARAMIE, Wyo. – Boise State’s players and coaches watched on the team bus on the short drive from the hotel to the Arena-Auditorium the final seconds of Air Force’s stunning upset win at New Mexico on Saturday afternoon.
And all it did was focus them in even more for the task at hand.
Having it reinforced again that anybody can beat anybody on any night in the Mountain West, a determined Boise State team got an early lead and never let up in an impressive 92-72 road win at Wyoming on Saturday evening.
“You just can’t underestimate any team in this league,” Boise State’s Tyson Degenhart said. “I think it was a really good wake up call for this game.”
Degenhart had 22 points and O’Mar Stanley had 19 points and seven rebounds to lead five players in double figures for the Broncos, who had a 43-19 rebounding edge and shot 54 percent while leading for 39:11 of the 40-minute game.
Boise State led just 32-30 with 5:30 to go in the first half before closing on a 19-6 run to lead 51-36 at the break.
“If it’s a 5-point game then they make a run and the crowd gets going, but we took them out of the hame (before half),” Boise State coach Leon Rice said.”
Said Degenhart: “That really changed the game for us, going from a 2-point game to a 15-point game, that makes a huge difference going into the locker room.”
Boise State improved to 7-1 in its last eight games in Laramie and 10-4 overall at the Arena-Auditorium since joining the Mountain West in 2012. Leon Rice is also now 14-2 against his former assistants.
The Broncos moved up two spots to a season-best No. 33 in the NET rankings with the win.
Max Rice had 16 points, Roddie Anderson had 12 points and Jace Whiting added 10 points off the bench for the Broncos, who made 10 3-pointers, got 16 points from their bench and had 48 points in the paint.
With the win Boise State improved to 10-4 in Mountain West play to pull even with Utah State for first place with four games remaining.
“These guys are enjoying each other and enjoying being coached and we’re having a good time and there’s a lot of teams that can’t say that in February,” Rice said.
Boise State continues its two-game road trip at Air Force on Tuesday. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.
LITHIA FORD OF BOISE POSTGAME SHOW