SAN DIEGO – Boise State’s already slim NCAA Tournament hopes were put on life support Saturday night.
And it was another road loss to a team ahead of them in the standings that did them in again.
Boise State had two different five-minute scoring droughts and couldn’t find a way overcome San Diego State’s suffocating defense in a 64-47 loss at Viejas Arena.
“This was not the game we imagined us playing,” Tyson Degenhart said. “We started out the game really well but just didn’t finish the first half the way we wanted to and that set us back a little bit.”
The Broncos, who saw their four-game win streak come to an end, fell to 0-5 against teams ahead them in the standings – San Diego State, New Mexico, Utah State and Colorado State – and are 9-0 against everybody else.
It was also another road loss for the Broncos, who dropped to 3-4 on the road in Mountain West play after going 7-2 on the road last season. The Broncos were 18-9 in league road games the past three seasons but have lost four of seven with three still remaining.
Tyson Degenhart had 17 points to eclipse 1,800 for his career – becoming just the fifth player in program history to achieve the feat. And Alvaro Cardenas had three assists to break Boise State’s single-season assist record of 165, previously set by La’Shard Anderson in 2011.
But both accomplishments came on a tough night for the Broncos.
Boise State led 18-17 before going the final 5:15 of the half without a point. San Diego State finished the half on an 11-0 run to lead 28-18 at the break.
The 18 points was a season-low for any half for the Broncos.
And unfortunately, it was more of the same to start the second half. Another scoring drought, this one even longer than the first at 5:41, led to another extended San Diego State run and a 46-23 lead. When Boise State finally scored with 12:09 to go, it was actually a San Diego State player who tipped it in.
The Broncos used a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to 11 at 46-35 with 8:37 to go, but the Broncos couldn’t get any closer down the stretch.
Tyson Degenhart had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Broncos, who went just 3 of 18 from 3-point range and shot just 34.5 percent overall.
“Kind of hard to win games when your shooting 34 percent,” Degenhart said.
Alvaro Cardenas had eight points and Pearson Carmichael had seven. Andrew Meadow scored the first seven points for Boise State but didn’t score again.
The 47 points were the fewest scored by Boise State in a conference loss since the Broncos joined the Mountain West more than a decade ago.
And much of that was due to San Diego State’s defense, which entered the game ranked in the top 10 in most defensive categories including No. 2 in field goal percentage. The Aztecs, who lead the nation in block percentage, had 10 blocks on Saturday against the Broncos.
Magoon Gwath, the 7-foot NBA prospect, had five blocks himself for the Aztecs and added eight points and six rebounds.
Nick Boyd had 24 points to lead San Diego State, who Miles Byrd and Wayne McKinney III each added 10.
While Boise State’s offense struggled, the defense wasn’t much better. San Diego State shot 54.2 percent from the field, including 60.9 percent in the second half.
Boise State coach Leon Rice was given a technical foul in the second half for arguing a non-foul call on an O’Mar Stanley putback. He then clapped at official Scott Brown after being given the foul and was somewhat lucky not to get another one and get ejected.
The Broncos have six games left and likely need to win all six to have any chance at an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The more realistic path to the Big Dance likely is the Broncos getting hot and winning the NCAA Tournament – but even that doesn’t feel all that realistic at this point.
Boise State will start its final push Wednesday when it returns home to face conference-leading New Mexico at 8:30 p.m. at ExtraMile Arena.
“I know one thing, our guys will bounce back and battle,” Rice said. “We’ll be ready to go on Wednesday.”
