LAS VEGAS – The New Mexico Lobos played like a team fighting for its NCAA Tournament lives Thursday night at Thomas and Mack Center. They were hungrier. They had more energy. They seemed to want it more.
Boise State, meanwhile, started slow and never really recovered. The Broncos looked out of sync for much of the game, struggled to get the ball inside and had their worst shooting night of the season.
Frankly, the final score could have been even worse.
The Broncos got 23 points and 12 rebounds from Tyson Degenhart but suffered another first round loss in the Mountain West Tournament in a 76-66 loss to New Mexico.
“I thought New Mexico came out and really got after us,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “They kind of sped us up in the first half and we had some uncharacteristic turnovers. But credit them. They can turn you over.
“They kind of set a good tone and we were kind of slow to respond. … We looked like a team that kind of was a little slow to get going. I think our guys were ready, but it’s just I think they really came in and they carried it over from yesterday and they were firing on all cylinders.”
Boise State has been one-and-done in the conference tournament in seven of 13 years since joining the Mountain West. It was the fourth time the Broncos have lost in their first game as the better seed.
But New Mexico wasn’t your ordinary six seed. And they showed it right from the jump. The Lobos forced three early turnovers, turned them all into points and fired up a loud and energetic crowd with an early 7-2 lead.
Boise State briefly took the lead but fell behind again and never recovered. They trailed 35-26 at the half – the 26 points were the fewest Boise State has scored in a first half all season – and went down by as many as 12 points in the second half.
Multiple times the Broncos cut the deficit to either five or six points, but the Lobos would quickly respond with a run to push the lead back to double digits.
One team was clearly better – at least on Thursday. And it wasn’t the Broncos.
New Mexico had a 40-20 margin in the paint, a 22-6 edge in fast break points, a 15-3 advantage in bench points and had 16 points off Boise State’s turnovers.
“We could have got blown out with those numbers,” Rice said. “No doubt.”
Jaelen House, who was 4 of 27 from the field in two regular season meetings with Boise State, made 10 of 21 shots Thursday and had a game-high 29 points. Donovan Dent added 22 for the Lobos on 8 of 9 shooting.
Max Rice had 13 points, Chibuzo Agbo had 11 and Roddie Anderson III had 10 for the Broncos, who shot a season-worst 29.4 percent t from the field – including an identical 10 of 34 from 3-point range and 10 of 34 from 2-point range.
New Mexico likely locked up a spot in the NCAA Tournament with the win, giving the Mountain West an unprecedented six teams in the Big Dance.
Boise State will be one of them – which makes the sting of Thursday’s loss not quote as bad.
“We’ll just take the time to rest up and wait for Selection Sunday,” Degenhart said. “Then we’ll just see where we’re playing and get prepared for whoever we’re matched up with.
“This team with our backs against the wall has always played the best. Now with the next loss our season is over, so our backs are really against the wall now. I know our team is going to do a great job of responding and recovering over the next week.”
