Just like that, the Boise State men’s basketball team is back in a tie for first place in the loss column.
Despite a grueling stretch to start conference play and ugly road losses at Colorado State and Utah State last week, Boise State’s 90-66 home win against Fresno State – combined with Utah State’s loss at Colorado State on Saturday – has the Broncos right back tied atop the standings four the Aggies and San Diego State with four losses.
With six games to play, the Broncos are right where they want to be.
“It feels good knowing we control our own destiny at this point,” forward Cam Martin said. “If we take care of our business, it’s only up to us.”
Tyson Degenhart had 24 points and O’Mar Stanley had 17 for the Broncos, who shot 58.8 percent from the field, out-rebounded Fresno State 35-23 and led for 39 minutes and 45 seconds.
Max Rice (13 points) and Chibuzo Agbo (12 points) each hit three 3-pointers for Boise State, which made 10 as a team from behind the arc, had 30 points in the paint and got 18 points off the bench.
Boise State (17-7, 8-4 MW) is a win behind Utah State (9-4) and San Diego State (9-4) in the standings, but the Aggies and Aztecs play Tuesday night in Logan. The Broncos still have a game left at San Diego State to finish the regular season as well.
“Before practice we talked about where we were at in the standings and we were one game back in the loss column after a pretty hard 11-game stretch,” Degenhart said. “And we realized what we had in front of us and we just needed a couple things to go our way and now we control our own destiny.
“We’re in a really great spot and based off Quad 1 wins we have as many as we had the last two years, so we’re in a really good spot.”
Boise State hosts San Jose State on Tuesday night before heading to Wyoming and Air Force next week. All three teams are near the bottom of the standings and the Broncos are projected to win all three.
The Broncos then return home for two home games against New Mexico and Nevada – teams they already beat on the road earlier this season – before ending the regular season in San Diego.
Ideally for the Broncos they’d win the next five games and have at least a share of the league title already clinched before finishing the season at Viejas Arena. And it’s a very possible scenario given Boise State’s remaining schedule being easier than most of the other teams.
“It’s fun to be involved in a title race and it’s fun to be in the NCAA Tournament speculation and brackets and this and that,” coach Leon Rice said. “I (told the team) to enjoy it and look at it – but it doesn’t matter. There’s a month left of basketball and what matters is what we do and how we approach it and taking care of business like tonight.
“Ultimately you have to do your own work. We’re not relying on anybody. It’s fun to watch and neat to be involved with it and fun for the teams and gives you a lot tot talk about, but our job is the same and if we don’t do our job none of that even matters.”
Boise State played one of its best games of the season Saturday to start the final push. After a needed bye week to rest and regroup, the Broncos looked fresher and had more energy than we saw in previous road losses in Fort Collins and Logan.
The Broncos led by 15 at the half and pushed the lead to as many as 27 in the second half in a dominant effort from start to finish. The margin would have been even bigger had Fresno State not made 11 shots from beyond the 3-point arc.
“It definitely helps get some momentum going and and gets guys confidence up,” Martin said. “We have to look at it one game at a time. It’s hard not to look ahead and saying ‘oh these guys play these guys’ and what it can do for the standings.
“Everybody is so close so every game matters. We have to look at it as one day at a time and one game at a time.”
Tip off Tuesday against San Jose State is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. at ExtraMile Arena. The game will be televised on FOX Sports 1.