Boise State ‘frustrated’ in Senior Night loss to Nevada as Mountain West title hopes fade

BOISE – It wasn’t the dream scenario many had hoped for. It was more like a nightmare.

Boise State, on its Senior Night, suffered a 76-66 loss to Nevada on Tuesday night at ExtraMile Arena.

The Broncos missed nine free throws, had 14 turnovers, shot just 6 of 23 from 3-point range and struggled to deal with Nevada’s double teams on the interior.

The Wolf Pack shot 12 of 24 from 3-point range, locked down the Broncos on defense and sent a crowd of 11,242 home disappointed after staying up for a rare 9:15 p.m. start time.

There was no storybook sendoff for senior Max Rice. With the Broncos down late in the game they couldn’t even pull him early to get an ovation from the crowd.

Seniors Sam Winter and Mo Sylla, both who rarely see the court, didn’t log a second due to the score.

It was a billed as a night to remember. One final home game for Rice and the Broncos as they surge towards a third straight NCAA Tournament and a chance at a Mountain West regular season title.

It turned out to be a night to forget.

“They frustrated us, no doubt,” said Boise State coach Leon Rice, who earned a technical foul in the second half for arguing with the officials. “But we also frustrated ourselves. I saw that in the first half with some missed shots and we overreacted to it a little bit. Our guys do a good job of that. They don’t tie themselves to our offense too much, but I think we did a little bit of that in the first half and that carried over.”

Max Rice had 15 points in the final home game of his career. He went 4 of 10 from the field but struggled to find open shots against Nevada’s pressure defense.

Tyson Degenhart added 15 points and 12 rebounds and O’Mar Stanley and Chibuzo Agbo each added nine points for the Broncos, who had a 39-23 edge on the boards but committed too many sloppy, careless turnovers and missed 17 of their 23 attempts from 3-point range.

“I think it was just an off night,” Degenhart said.

Hunter McIntosh went 6 for 6 from 3-point range off the bench for Nevada and finished with 26 points. Jarod Lucas had 19 points and Kenan Blackshear added 11 for the Wolf Pack, which end the regular season at home on Saturday against UNLV.

Boise State (21-9, 12-5 MW) finishes the regular season at San Diego State on Friday night at 8 p.m. on FS1 before turning its attention to the Mountain West Conference Tournament next week in Las Vegas. Boise State could still share the regular season title should they win in San Diego and have Utah State lose one of its two remaining games, but the Broncos will be the No. 3, No. 4 or No. 5 seed in Las Vegas.

“We still have a lot of ahead of us,” Degenhart said. “We still have a chance to take the league title with a couple things happening, but it’s hard knowing that we don’t control our own destiny.”